tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/higher-education-reform-10149/articlesHigher education reform – The Conversation2021-08-02T15:16:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650862021-08-02T15:16:12Z2021-08-02T15:16:12ZWhy it’s time to break the cycle of reform and protest at Kenya’s universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413359/original/file-20210727-27-gcvabq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University of Nairobi medical students protest over a bid to increase tuition fees.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Patrick Meinhardt / AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent announcement of <a href="https://uonbi.ac.ke/news/uon-council-outlines-radical-institutional-reforms">wide-ranging reforms</a> at the University of Nairobi predictably triggered a new bout of student protests. The cost-cutting reforms propose a smaller administrative team, the abolition of a third of its colleges and higher tuition fees.</p>
<p>The proposed reforms have also elicited protest from academic and administrative staff. They argue that the proposals are punitive and high-handed. Staff have voiced <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210720075122454">concerns</a> over lack of consultation in the reform process. Students have <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/uon-students-threaten-protests-lawsuit-over-higher-fees%E2%80%943470582">threatened</a> further protests and legal action over higher tuition fees.</p>
<p>Constant disruption of learning due to students’ protests has <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1514792">defined</a> university education since Kenya’s independence. Up until the 1990s, such protests were triggered by larger socio-political issues such as democratisation, human rights and economic equality. Since then, the spate of university student protests, <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/32399/kiboiy_dynamics_2013.pdf?sequence=4">averaging five every year</a>, has followed changes that raise the costs of attending university. </p>
<p>Due to its status as the <a href="https://www.4icu.org/top-universities-africa/">premier university in Kenya</a>, reforms at the University of Nairobi are likely to cascade to other public universities. So too are the reactions of students and staff. </p>
<p>As the state allocations continue to decline and fewer resources are committed to higher education, budgetary constraints and reforms will be inevitable. Universities will need strategies that can defuse constant disruption of learning by student protests. Structured and broad-based consultations and negotiations with student leaders are one option, rather than a process driven by the administration. This would secure buy-in of any proposed changes.</p>
<p>Universities also need to tame unnecessary expenditure and waste to build support for reform.</p>
<h2>Mountain of debt</h2>
<p>The Nairobi university council <a href="https://www.uonbi.ac.ke/sites/default/files/VCs%20LIVE%20ADDRESS%2014th%20JULY%202021-1.pdf">justified</a> the reforms by saying they would ensure efficiency, effectiveness and accountability. Best practice would be achieved by reducing senior administrative offices to improve the decision-making process and reduce costs. It also sought to abolish programmes in which enrolment was low, and increase tuition fees to generate revenue for sustainable operations.</p>
<p>Kenya’s public universities are facing severe budgetary pressures. By December 2020, their <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001396288/universities-debt-hits-sh40-billion-as-deficit-grows">debt</a> to the government and private entities stood at 40 billion shillings (US$390 million). This includes statutory contributions to pension schemes, health insurance premiums, savings and credit union contributions, and tax. </p>
<p>This year, the government <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-06-10-treasury-slashes-sh167bn-from-universities-funding/">slashed</a> 18.5% from the universities’ funding compared to last year. The government believes that universities should be able to generate revenues and reduce over-reliance on public funding. </p>
<p>In the 2016-2017 academic year, the <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/32361">main sources of funding</a> for public universities were: 59.2% from the government, 34.4% from tuition fees, 4.3% from other sources, and 3.0% from research grants.</p>
<p>How did the universities get into this debt? From independence in 1963 to 1990, Kenya had a wholly state-owned, state-funded university sector. The government footed all the costs of university education, including tuition scholarships for students and the current and development expenditures. For subsidised subsistence and accommodation, the state advanced interest-free loans to students payable upon employment. </p>
<p>With only four public universities that were sufficiently funded this was the golden age of university education in Kenya. It was a system that catered for the fortunate few who had performed exceptionally well at high school. It created fierce demand and competition for university places. Only around <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3447164">15%</a> would transition to university.</p>
<p>As Kenya’s economy began to falter in the mid-1980s and the country sought relief from the World Bank and IMF, higher education was marked for radical reform to curb public expenditure. Under the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-007-9067-3">structural adjustment programme</a>, government-sponsored students in public universities would pay modest tuition fees and meet the costs of subsistence and accommodation.</p>
<p>A need-based bursary scheme was offered for tuition and loans would be available for subsistence and accommodation. Universities would charge for services provided and generate income by admitting fee-paying students.</p>
<p>Initially, universities were able to cope with reduced state funding by generating revenue from students. In 2011, revenue from fees <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-need-deep-reform-not-just-a-hike-in-fees-115149">slightly exceeded</a> government funding in the top five public universities.</p>
<p>Since 2016 when the government took measures to curb examination cheating in high schools and closed substandard university branch campuses, the number of fee-paying students has <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10949">declined</a>. This has lowered tuition fee revenue that cushioned against the decline in state funding. </p>
<p>Revenue that was expected to come from university auxiliary services, research grants, consultancy contracts, partnerships and returns from copyrights and industrial parks has failed to materialise. This has left the universities solely dependent on government sources and tuition fees.</p>
<p>Yet the number of universities has <a href="https://www.cue.or.ke/images/phocadownload/Accredited_Universities_Kenya_June2021.pdf">continued to grow</a> – from five in 1990 to the current 38. This has added to the financial stress in higher education.</p>
<h2>What students protest about</h2>
<p>Student protests in Kenya have had four drivers. First is protest over the cost of attending university and altered living conditions due to <a href="https://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/Dinah_Mwinzi.pdf">cost sharing</a>. Rent, transport and educational materials have become more expensive but the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001396572/varsity-students-protest-helb-cuts-and-fee-increase">loan amounts</a> given have been reduced.</p>
<p>Second, students have protested against higher services fees for access to the library and for medical and ID cards. Students say the new fees are a barrier to education.</p>
<p>Third, unrest has resulted from inequalities in access to university and quality of education. Government-sponsored students have <a href="https://prophe.org/cache/0527450_PROPHE-WP9.pdf">blamed the decline</a> in university reputation to self-sponsored students who simply “buy” their way into prestigious programmes like medicine, pharmacy and engineering. Because these students come from high-and middle-income families, the programmes are a preserve of the fortunate few, inaccessible to poor families.</p>
<p>Finally, the most common protests are over <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210721150126460">tuition fee hikes</a>. Tuition fees can have a <a href="https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/thesauce/rising-number-of-kenyan-students-dropping-out-of-uni/">big impact</a> on course completion rates. In the current reform strategy, public universities have <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200624140322382">proposed</a> different funding and fees for different academic programmes, rather than the current flat rate. </p>
<p>Transparency in university budgeting processes is of utmost importance. Universities need to publish their budgets, explaining their revenues and expenditures and inviting feedback. This will provide a realistic picture of their financial positions. If staff and students do not have access to critical financial information, it is difficult to convince them the situation is dire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities will need strategies that can defuse constant disruption of learning due to student protest.Ishmael Munene, Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499732020-11-17T18:49:10Z2020-11-17T18:49:10ZOur unis do need international students and must choose between the high and low roads<p>Australian universities have come to rely heavily on revenue from onshore international students. <a href="https://asiasociety.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Asia_Taskforce_Discussion_Paper_4_Higher_Education.pdf">Numbers more than doubled</a> in the decade to 2018. But the proposition that Australia’s public universities should step back 50 years, retreat from international education and focus wholly or largely on domestic students is naively nostalgic. </p>
<p>Such a move would be a backward step economically, culturally and diplomatically, as a new <a href="https://asiasociety.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Asia_Taskforce_Discussion_Paper_4_Higher_Education.pdf">Asia Taskforce discussion paper</a> concludes. It would diminish Australia and its global standing.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Data-snapshot-2019-FINAL.pdf">37 of our universities</a> are publicly owned and thus have a social obligation to serve domestic students. It is right that we have a robust debate about the international student presence on our campuses. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the debate has generated more heat than light. It’s at risk of being hijacked for ideological purposes, rather than generating credible and practical solutions on which the sector and government can act.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-what-australian-universities-can-do-to-recover-from-the-loss-of-international-student-fees-139759">COVID-19: what Australian universities can do to recover from the loss of international student fees</a>
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<h2>Getting to the root of the problem</h2>
<p>Criticisms of the sector aren’t without merit. As some academics <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2019/08/ap5.pdf">have suggested</a>, and as COVID-19 has writ large, universities’ high exposure to the international education market is high risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing breakdowns of university revenue sources from 2004 to 2018" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369485/original/file-20201116-13-6rm8jq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Changes in sources of university revenue from 2004 to 2018 (in 2018 dollars)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200917-HE-Facts-and-Figures-2020.pdf">Universities Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/Research-Snapshots/Documents/RS_International%20students%20at%20universities.pdf">proportion of international students per institution</a> in 2018 averaged 22%, ranging from a low of 4% (New England) to a high of 48% (Bond). At some business and engineering faculties, the proportion exceeded 50%. </p>
<p>Enrolments at some of our largest universities also have an unacceptable skew towards single countries – either China or India. Some universities, particularly Group of Eight institutions, have fallen into the habit of setting international fees according to what China – the world’s largest student market – will bear. This has eroded competitiveness in more cost-sensitive countries like those in South East Asia and Latin America. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing countries of origin of international students at Australian universities" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369481/original/file-20201116-15-1yr4qpk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Data-snapshot-2019-FINAL.pdf">Universities Australia. Data source: DET Selected Higher Education Statistics 2008 and 2017 Student Data</a></span>
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<p>Furthermore, the sector can and must lift its game on all-round educational quality. The issues include academic and English-proficiency admission standards, the quality of the learning experience, and graduate employability and job outcomes.</p>
<p>Whatever the critics might assert, though, the root cause of this reliance is not institutional greed. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-came-to-rely-on-international-students-138796">underlying driver</a> has been bipartisan attachment to weaning the sector off the public purse and requiring it to stand on its own two feet financially. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-came-to-rely-on-international-students-138796">How universities came to rely on international students</a>
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<p>In the two decades to 2015, OECD data suggest Australia slipped from sixth place to <a href="https://www.aheia.edu.au/resources-391/higher-education-workforce-of-the-future-167">24th among OECD countries</a> in terms of public investment in higher education as a share of GDP. While <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-tertiary-education-funding-is-not-as-low-as-it-seems-in-oecd-metrics-102710">some</a> dispute these metrics, the flatlining of real direct funding by government has created a university sector that is neither fish nor fowl: publicly owned yet increasingly reliant on commercial income sources.</p>
<h2>Fee revenue isn’t the only benefit</h2>
<p>A striking feature of criticisms of the international student presence is a refusal to acknowledge its benefits. Education was the nation’s <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/Research-Snapshots/Documents/Export%20Income%20FY2016%E2%80%9317.pdf">third-largest export earner</a> last year. Higher education alone contributed A$31 billion. </p>
<p>International students contribute greatly to local economies too. They spend on accommodation, food, leisure and entertainment. Over <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/05/21/31-200-nsw-jobs-rely-on-university-of-sydney-.html">31,000 jobs rely</a> on the University of Sydney alone. </p>
<p>Falling onshore international student numbers have magnified the pandemic’s impacts. A Mitchell Institute <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/educational-opportunity-in-australia-2020.pdf">research paper</a> last week forecast a 50% decline in onshore international students by mid-2021. The paper detailed the suburb-by-suburb economic impact on our cities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-to-halve-international-student-numbers-in-australia-by-mid-2021-its-not-just-unis-that-will-feel-their-loss-148997">COVID to halve international student numbers in Australia by mid-2021 – it's not just unis that will feel their loss</a>
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<p><iframe id="SOYqH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SOYqH/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The <a href="https://thepienews.com/the-view-from/what-did-international-students-ever-do-for-australia/">socio-cultural benefits</a> these students bring are also habitually ignored or dismissed. </p>
<p>Neglected, too, are the many benefits and opportunities, including “soft power” projection, that flow from having <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/australia-global-alumni-engagement-strategy-2016-2020.pdf">hundreds of thousands of Australian university alumni worldwide</a>. There are well over 200,000 in China alone.</p>
<h2>Low road or high road?</h2>
<p>The sector and policymakers now face a stark choice regarding the number, size and student profile of universities. In the post-pandemic world, and in the absence of increased direct government funding per student, the sector must choose between the “low road” and the “high road” to survival and sustainability.</p>
<p>The low road would involve pulling back to a largely or even wholly domestic focus. The results would very likely be sector-wide decline, shrinking universities, deteriorating campus facilities, a lowering of horizons and a reversion to a pre-1990s focus on domestic student education. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/without-international-students-australias-universities-will-downsize-and-some-might-collapse-altogether-132869">Without international students, Australia's universities will downsize – and some might collapse altogether</a>
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<p>Internationalism would give way to isolationism and educational nationalism of Trumpian proportions. This path would consign the sector to a future of parochialism, mediocrity and global irrelevance.</p>
<p>Alternatively, the sector could take the “high road”. This would involve repositioning itself as a high-quality provider of new forms of learning for both international and domestic students. </p>
<p>The sector and government would have to work in partnership to rebuild universities’ global brand and reputation, recover international student numbers and reprofile this student cohort. The latter step would aim both to improve the academic merit of students from China and diversify intakes. </p>
<p>The high road is also the hard road. It requires a pro-active (not defensive) mindset and an all-round shift in perceptions of Australia, Australians and our universities. But it may well set the sector on a bright new path.</p>
<p>The hope that a surge in domestic student demand will save the sector from atrophy is delusional. The government must either greatly increase recurrent funding per student or provide strong tactical support to recover and diversify international student enrolments. The latter approach would enable the sector to continue to cross-subsidise degree studies by domestic students, fund high-quality research, and develop campus and IT infrastructure <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-preparing-students-for-21st-century-jobs-youre-behind-the-times-131567">fit for the fourth industrial revolution</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing growth in university research funding sources since 2000" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369509/original/file-20201116-23-a7a4qh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Growth in sources of funding for university research since 2000 (in 2018 dollars)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200917-HE-Facts-and-Figures-2020.pdf">Universities Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-6-billion-and-11-of-researchers-our-estimate-of-how-much-australian-university-research-stands-to-lose-by-2024-146672">$7.6 billion and 11% of researchers: our estimate of how much Australian university research stands to lose by 2024</a>
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<p>The sector can do this without major direct funding increases from a <a href="https://theconversation.com/these-budget-numbers-are-shocking-and-there-are-worse-ones-in-store-143250">debt-burdened government</a>. But government needs to help the sector help itself.</p>
<h2>A 10-point action plan</h2>
<p>Universities should act decisively and in concert to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>diversify international students</p></li>
<li><p>focus on all-round quality (admission quality, learning quality, graduate outcome quality) of Chinese students</p></li>
<li><p>increase strategic partnerships with international institutions as a channel for recruiting high-quality students</p></li>
<li><p>leverage international alumni networks more effectively to promote the sector and assist student recruitment and graduate placement</p></li>
<li><p>accentuate intensive courses for international students to capitalise on booming demand for life-long learning.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Government could support progress along the high road as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>sponsor tripartite trade and education missions to target countries</p></li>
<li><p>expand support for intensive study visits</p></li>
<li><p>host sector-wide events and promote further learning for international alumni</p></li>
<li><p>actively encourage employers to provide in-program placements and onshore post-study work for new international graduates</p></li>
<li><p>sponsor initiatives to help graduates secure quality jobs in their home countries.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The sector and government should embrace the high road in partnership. This can only be achieved if we engage in a mature and nuanced discussion about root causes, practical solutions and the sort of university system we really wish to have in this country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Shields has recently authored a discussion paper on this topic for the Business Council of Australian and Asia Society's Asia Taskforce.No payment was received for production of this paper. John has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council for projects unrelated to this contribution. His position at the University of Sydney Business School includes responsibility for academic leadership of the School's international engagement activities. He has also been involved in international student recruitment to the School since 2009.</span></em></p>Educating international students provides far more benefits for Australia than is commonly acknowledged. But it has also created problems and an ambitious agenda is needed to overcome these.John Shields, Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1447982020-09-30T04:19:26Z2020-09-30T04:19:26ZDo Australians care about unis? They’re now part of our social wage, so we should<p>In 1988, then federal education minister, John Dawkins, drew upon the politics of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh4zj6k.10?seq=15#metadata_info_tab_contents">class privilege</a> to justify rolling out HECS student loans. A university user-pays system was needed, he argued, because Labor was not in the business of funding “middle-class welfare”. At the time, one reason a neoliberal appeal by Labor to its base could deflate widespread public opposition was that just <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-australia/may-2019/62270do028_201005.xls">7% of working-age Australians</a> held a degree. </p>
<p>Three decades on, Education Minister Dan Tehan is also dog-whistling up the politics of class to cut off the loans system to first-year students who <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/failing-university-students-to-be-kicked-off-hecs/news-story/eee39ecaf01b8521a9d3821926052e65">fail</a> half their subjects, <a href="http://www.nteu.org.au/article/Fake-culture-wars-a-distraction-from-fee-hikes%2C-cuts---chaos-%28Sentry%2C-August-2020%29-22217">ramp up</a> fees for many others, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/25/four-private-australian-universities-allowed-to-access-jobkeeper-payments">deny JobKeeper</a> to workers in the sector and <a href="http://www.nteu.org.au/fundunifairly/crossbench">cut funding</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-would-save-1-billion-a-year-with-proposed-university-reforms-but-thats-not-what-its-telling-us-142256">The government would save $1 billion a year with proposed university reforms — but that's not what it's telling us</a>
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</p>
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<p>Dawkins’s representation of the policy problem framed higher education as a bastion of privilege. It relied on the relative absence of working-class students and the irrelevance of higher education to their parents. </p>
<p>For Tehan the problem is represented by these students’ overabundance — particularly in courses that do not produce workers with the specific technical skills he claims are <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-22/university-fee-changes-dan-tehan-capitalist-economics-analysis/12377498">in demand</a> by employers. Tehan’s call to rid the system of failing students is couched in paternalism, a hallmark of the welfare system. </p>
<h2>Agenda predates COVID</h2>
<p>On the surface, a small cohort of students mostly from low socioeconomic backgrounds appear to be the target. Politically, however, it neatly links with the government’s broader restructuring agenda across the campuses. For higher education students and staff alike, it epitomises what the National Union of Students (NUS) president has called a neoliberal way to “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-13/university-hecs-limits-for-failing-students-explained/12553548">incentivise success through fear of punishment</a>”.</p>
<p>The restructuring goes well beyond the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. An explosion of casual employee networks <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NHECN">across the country</a> and a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/25/hundreds-of-university-academics-around-australia-vote-to-take-unprotected-strike-action">recent national assembly</a> of nearly 500 academics voting to build towards unprotected industrial action have boosted campaigning by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and NUS against the current cuts and broader restructuring agenda. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-universities-face-losing-1-in-10-staff-covid-driven-cuts-create-4-key-risks-147007">As universities face losing 1 in 10 staff, COVID-driven cuts create 4 key risks</a>
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<h2>What has changed since 1988?</h2>
<p>There are optimistic grounds for thinking that broader societal support is now more likely than in 1988 for this defence of universities as a freely accessible public good. </p>
<p>In May 2019, a <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-australia/latest-release">third of the working-age population</a> (20-64 years) held at least a bachelor degree. That’s almost five times more than in 1988. And nearly two-thirds of this group had a degree, diploma or post-school certificate. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-australia/may-2019/62270do028_201005.xls">46% of women and 35% of men</a> between the ages of 25 and 34 have a degree. Soon most women in this key working-age cohort will be university graduates, alongside a significant proportion of men.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="graph showing increases of women, men and all Australians holding at least a bachelor degree from 1988 to 2019" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360677/original/file-20200930-16-160no5w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-australia/may-2019/62270do028_201005.xls">Data: ABS</a></span>
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<h2>Social wage has widened</h2>
<p>This mainstreaming of university education means the sector joins health and welfare as a core part of the social wage. Australian government spending on keeping the workforce skilled, fit and able to work accounted for more than 60% of its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Budget_Office/Publications/Chart_packs/2019-20_Budget_Snapshot">2019-20 budget</a>. Health-care spending, whether provided by employers (such as US insurance schemes) or more commonly via <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/harman/2009/zombiecap/00-intro.html">the state</a>, is in reality part of our wages whether it is paid in cash or kind or goes to workers collectively rather than individually. </p>
<p>The social wage came to prominence in the 1980s as a key part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622">Prices and Incomes Accord</a>. The Labor government reached agreement with trade unions and employers that they would trade off wage increases for better social security benefits and progressive education and health reforms. Political economist Elizabeth Humphrys <a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1360-how-labour-built-neoliberalism">has explained</a> how these trade-offs strengthened the hold of neoliberalism and weakened trade unions. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622">Australian politics explainer: the Prices and Incomes Accord</a>
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<p>The social wage is the collective part of our overall wages. This understanding provides broad-based, industrial grounds to defend its provision. </p>
<p>Just as it has been unfortunately shown that wage cuts are <a href="https://www.solidarity.net.au/unions/strategy-needed-to-halt-uni-bosses-job-cuts/">not stopping job cuts</a> in the university sector, cuts to our social wage are also not in our collective self-interest. </p>
<p>For example, we need to loudly call out that the framing of social security payments as handouts for the poor is a cynical attempt to cultivate “<a href="https://insidestory.org.au/them-and-us-the-enduring-power-of-welfare-myths/">them and us</a>” divisions. In reality, between 2001 and 2015, <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/hilda/publications/hilda-statistical-reports">over 70% of Australian working-age households</a> required income support at some stage. These payments helped smooth the financial risks of unemployment, low wages, caring responsibilities, injury, frailty or disability. </p>
<p>Arguments for the JobSeeker supplement to be kept after the pandemic – such as by the <a href="https://raisetherate.org.au/">Raise the Rate</a> campaign – are gaining widespread traction. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unemployment-support-will-be-slashed-by-300-this-week-this-wont-help-people-find-work-146289">Unemployment support will be slashed by $300 this week. This won't help people find work</a>
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<p>A similar basis of mass support exists for campaigns to have equitable, accessible and quality higher education. Secondary school students and their parents, casualised and ongoing staff and the wider trade union movement all have a stake in rejecting the current round of university cuts and restructuring. Higher education is now firmly part of our social wage, and we must defend it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Banks is involved in various research collaborations with the Brotherhood of St Laurence Research and Policy Centre. He is an NTEU delegate and member.</span></em></p>Three decades ago, in another time of upheaval in higher education, 7% of working-age Australians had a degree. Today 33% have one. More people than ever have a stake in what happens to universities.Marcus Banks, Social policy and consumer finance researcher, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1445632020-08-20T20:16:55Z2020-08-20T20:16:55ZWhen students fail, many do nothing about it. Here’s how unis can help them get back on track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353506/original/file-20200818-24671-trkm1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C7%2C4954%2C3310&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenage-student-classroom-tutor-71162902">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students failing at university is not a problem of “extremes”, as federal Education Minister Dan Tehan <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/putting-students-interests-first">would have it</a>. A large proportion of students fail units of study. And, surprisingly, <a href="https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/1403">our research</a> found about a third do nothing about it. However, students who received targeted help from their university on average halved their failure rate. </p>
<p>The government is right to be concerned about high rates of failure among students who accrue HECS-HELP debt even if they don’t graduate. Its <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/job-ready/job-ready-graduates-package-draft-legislation-consultation">proposed amendments</a> to the Higher Education Support Act mean students who fail half their subjects across two semesters would lose Commonwealth support. </p>
<p>The changes would extend conditions applying to non-university providers to universities. They would also increase the powers of the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), and the Department of Education to enforce those rules. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uni-student-failure-rate-is-a-worry-but-the-government-response-is-too-heavy-handed-144414">Uni student failure rate is a worry, but the government response is too heavy-handed</a>
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<p>The question is: will the treatment cure the disease? And is it reasonable in terms of its consequences for universities and their students?</p>
<h2>Failure is common</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2019.1664999">large study</a> of the prevalence and reasons for academic failure of undergraduate students at an Australian university found 40% failed at least one unit. These students were four times more likely to drop out. And 58% of those who persisted with their studies failed again.</p>
<p>All universities have procedures to identify students who fail multiple units in a semester or fail the same unit multiple times. These processes would pick up students who fail half their units, especially in their first year.</p>
<p>The question is what happens next? A university would ordinarily develop a plan to support the student to improve their performance. This may include advice to attend the language and learning skills centre, to seek support for mental well-being and/or to reduce study load if possible. Universities differ in how much practical assistance they give students to recover from failure and complete their course.</p>
<h2>Targeted help makes a difference</h2>
<p>Swinburne University of Technology has a comparatively comprehensive process to support students identified as being at risk. This includes students who have to “show cause” why they should not be excluded from their course. </p>
<p>Highly trained academic development advisers (ADAs) reach out to the students individually. Students are asked to attend a one-on-one session to work through the reasons that led to unit failure and discuss how they will respond to these challenges. They can see the ADA multiple times.</p>
<p>The ADAs also run a facilitated peer support program, called Back on Track, over the semester. It’s aimed at changing behaviour and developing new study habits as well as building a personal support network. </p>
<p>The outcomes of the Back on Track program are impressive. The 213 participants in the second semester of 2019 almost halved their fail rate from the first semester. Some students did not fail any units. </p>
<p>Dropping study load to improve pass rates was an important strategy. Almost half of the cohort did this.</p>
<p>Supporting students after academic failure is resource-intensive because of the numbers involved. The Swinburne ADA team works with about 2,000 students a year. This is in addition to the administrative staff who identify students and the academic staff involved in the “show cause” process. </p>
<p>While Swinburne leads in proactive support of students, all universities have robust processes for dealing with poor academic progress.</p>
<h2>Students must learn to help themselves</h2>
<p>Offering support is only part of the story. Students must also adapt their behaviour following academic failure. At Swinburne, many “at risk” students don’t engage with the ADA support system.</p>
<p>In our study, we asked students what they did in <a href="https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/1403">response to failing</a>. One-third of respondents who had failed but persisted with their study answered: “Nothing”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Student with coffee staring in confusion at laptop screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353514/original/file-20200819-25043-6ftsxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A third of students continuing with study after failing units said they did ‘nothing’ in response to their failure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bored-university-student-584141923">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This is obviously of concern, especially for students who have failed multiple units. Of those who had failed repeatedly but did “nothing”, 43% were international students and 26% were online students. They struggled with exam anxiety and exam situations, especially the international students, and reported problems with workload and time management. </p>
<p>These students had not yet worked out how to help themselves, or where to go for help.</p>
<p>Most students named multiple and compounding reasons for failing, including financial struggles, disability, and care or work responsibilities. These underlying issues cannot be resolved quickly, by students or universities.</p>
<h2>Everyone has a role to play</h2>
<p>Universities could do more to help students in practical ways to get back on track. Combined use of predictive learning analytics (drawing on multiple data points to identify students at risk) and learning advisers who intervene early is <a href="https://success.gsu.edu/initiatives/gps-advising/">showing promise</a> and could be rolled out across the sector. The government, through the <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/contextual-overview-hes-framework-2015">Higher Education Standards Framework</a>, could encourage this.</p>
<p>Reducing study load is an effective strategy but can have negative consequences for Centrelink support and, in many cases, scholarships. The government could help improve pass rates by further relaxing the <a href="https://www.studyassist.gov.au/support-while-you-study/student-payments">Centrelink requirement</a> that students must study full-time to receive benefits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of university student dragging a debt ball and chain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353513/original/file-20200819-14-94ilok.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If the debt burden on failing students is the issue, relaxing Centrelink rules so they can reduce study loads and pass would make sense.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/2016-graduate-student-loan-icons-crippling-413825836">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The proposed 50% fail rule for Commonwealth-supported places seems an overreaction to some extreme cases. The solution to these extremes could be found in the Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (<a href="https://www.studyassist.gov.au/help-loans/your-chessn">CHESSN</a>) and <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2020/08/13/checking-that-students-are-on-track-to-pass-the-governments-proposal/">a better IT system</a>. The Education Department could then police the issue of students enrolling in multiple courses at multiple institutions behind the scenes.</p>
<p>We know students who fail 50% of their units in a semester are a significant minority. If institutions had to justify to the department why they are not excluding these students, the administrative burden would be substantial.</p>
<p>The more serious concern is what such a process would teach students about their ability to recover from failure and make changes in response to feedback and advice. The proposed policy risks adding stress for students who are already struggling with their life load and is likely to punish those who are already disadvantaged.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students who fail units are highly likely to fail again without targeted assistance. But when universities intervene early to support these students, their rate of failure has been nearly halved.Nadine Zacharias, Director, Student Engagement, Swinburne University of TechnologyRola Ajjawi, Associate Professor, Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1416892020-07-02T20:09:22Z2020-07-02T20:09:22ZDefunding arts degrees is the latest battle in a 40-year culture war<p>The government’s recently proposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">restructure of university fees</a> would see students pay 113% more for many humanities subjects.</p>
<p>The package is not a case of “humanities vs STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths)”, as some initially saw it. Some arts degrees, like English and languages, would see higher Commonwealth contributions.</p>
<p>But a disproportionate portion of the de-funding burden would still fall on the humanities if the package is approved by the Senate – to the extent many arts degrees would become <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/19/key-crossbencher-says-university-fee-changes-are-grossly-unfair">almost full-fee paying courses</a>.</p>
<p>So, <a href="http://www.president.unsw.edu.au/speeches/unsw-response-to-proposed-changes-to-higher-education-policy-and-funding">those who care about the humanities</a> have found themselves fighting yet another round of a decades-old culture war.</p>
<p>Since the 1980s, the humanities have been particularly vulnerable to funding cuts. This was driven by the hostility of conservative governments and critics who saw the humanities as generally antagonistic to their political interests.</p>
<p>Developments in this period set the parameters for much of the political discourse around the humanities since. And they made it possible for governments at various times to seek to defund or make funding for the humanities increasingly precarious.</p>
<h2>From civilisation to diversity, and back again</h2>
<p>Traditionally, the humanities were conservative in tone. There was an emphasis on the <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00000792_0.pdf">achievements of “civilisation”</a>, a principally Western, masculine canon of literature, art, music and history. </p>
<p>At the opening of the Menzies Building for the humanities at Monash University in 1963, Sir Robert Menzies said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] civilisation is in the heart and mind of people and the task of the humanist, the task of the people who teach and learn in a school of humanities is not to forget that history, for example, is no useless study, since a man who is ignorant of it will have no sense of proportion, no benefit of experience in dealing with new problems as they arise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From about the mid-1960s, the humanities’ political centre of gravity <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/449049?journalCode=ci">began to shift gradually leftwards</a>. Scholarship and teaching became more diverse, critical and feminist. </p>
<p>Eventually, a clear antagonism emerged between this new version of the humanities and the values of both older cultural conservatives and those pushing for deregulation and privatisation – “economic rationalists”, as they were then called – who had captured much of the public service in the 1980s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345174/original/file-20200702-2658-1f6a23h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Menzies building at Monash University was opened by Robert Menzies in 1963 who saw the study of civilisation as vital to the humanities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-august-5-2018-menzies-1162588057">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, research policy circles became <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08109029708632070">increasingly instrumentalist</a> – believing research must be practically “useful”. This generated a growing demand for taxpayer-funded research to demonstrate its contribution to the “national interest”.</p>
<p>Initially this <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0162243906291865">development concerned</a> the relationship between basic science and more practical, applied science and had little to do with the humanities. </p>
<p>But the changes in overall research philosophies came to impinge on the humanities, especially in the new <a href="https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A1033">emphasis on “relevance” in teaching and research</a> imposed on universities through the “Dawkins Reforms” of the late 1980s. </p>
<p>These reforms saw the large-scale restructuring of higher education through the introduction of more corporate forms of management, merging of universities and the more technical Colleges of Advanced Education, creation of the Australian Research Council (ARC), and reintroduction of student fees through the HECS system.</p>
<h2>Populism versus the humanities</h2>
<p>In March 1987, the new instrumentalism and growing conservative alienation from the humanities came together in their crudest, most populist form.</p>
<p>The Liberal-National opposition’s Waste Watch Committee, a group run by the NSW Senator Michael Baume, launched <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/HNC092015012148/upload_binary/HNC092015012148.pdf">an attack</a> on 60 Australian Research Grants Scheme (ARGS) grants it declared to be “waste”.</p>
<p>The committee borrowed the tactics of US Democratic Senator for Wisconsin, William Proxmire, who since 1975 had issued a monthly “<a href="http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1742">Golden Fleece Award</a>” to instances of supposed waste of public funds. The committee pioneered, in Australia, the strategy of holding up research grants to public ridicule on the basis of titles that sounded funny or indulgent to non-experts.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1096&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1096&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345160/original/file-20200702-2692-12nekj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1096&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Cash for absolute clap trap’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daily Telegraph front page, August 22 2016</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The grants the committee opposed were mostly in the humanities, with a few in the social sciences. Its leading example was a project on “Motherhood in Ancient Rome”. It was no accident that a project on women’s history was singled out.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136295340">judgements of the projects’ unworthiness were superficial</a>, and an enthusiastic tabloid media – especially <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136295340">radio personality John Laws</a> – played a key role in whipping up populist indignation and ridicule. </p>
<p>Unused to such attacks, academics and university administrators offered a <a href="http://smharchives.smedia.com.au/Olive/APA/smharchive/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SMH%2F1987%2F07%2F30&id=Ar01500&sk=512EC65E">lacklustre response</a> that underestimated the capacity of such populism to damage the humanities’ public standing and funding base.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12614237">May 1987 “mini-budget”</a> the Hawke government bowed to public pressure and cut A$1 million from the ARGS budget for 1987–88.</p>
<p>The Waste Watch Committee’s intervention set the template for subsequent populist attacks on the humanities – now a <a href="https://theconversation.com/telegraph-story-on-research-funding-does-nothing-to-advance-australian-journalism-64479">regular sport</a> of the tabloid press.</p>
<p>The effects on funding of such public disparagement were evident again in 2004–5, when then education minister Brendan Nelson <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09502386.2014.1000607">vetoed at least nine</a> grants recommended by the ARC. Various researchers, and <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-gideon-haigh-nelson-touch-research-funding-new-censorship-214#mtr">Herald-Sun columnist Andrew Bolt</a> himself, surmised this move was in response to Bolt’s criticism. </p>
<p>Bolt had written of the grants:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In cultural studies, seven of the eight grants were also for peek-in-your-pants researchers fixated on gender or race, and Marxists got all the grants you might expect of priests who worship state power.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In October 2018 it was revealed former education minister Simon Birmingham had <a href="https://theconversation.com/simon-birminghams-intervention-in-research-funding-is-not-unprecedented-but-dangerous-105737">quietly vetoed</a> a further eleven major research grants for mostly humanities projects totalling almost A$4.2 million.</p>
<p>This time there was no direct line to draw between a particular episode of populist criticism and the cuts, but there need not be.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1055734590969507841"}"></div></p>
<p>By 2018, the caricature of the humanities as “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/oh-the-political-humanities/news-story/a6d6f6257cc56790d540284b69d2ef3a">disfigured by cultural left theory hostile to mainstream Australia</a>” (as an editorial in the The Australian called it) was commonplace in sections of press and in the regular interventions of the <a href="https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/research-papers/rise-identity-politics">Institute of Public Affairs</a>.</p>
<p>It is not difficult to see several decades of populist condemnation of the humanities playing a similar role in the recent announcement of arts teaching cuts.</p>
<h2>The good news for the humanities?</h2>
<p>If this story contains any good news, it is that humanities scholars are now much better prepared than they once were to make the public case for the social and economic value of their disciplines.</p>
<p>In 1987, the response to the Waste Watch Committee was tepid. In 2018, the response to the grant veto revelations was full-blooded and successful in forcing a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/28/education-minister-restores-funding-to-rejected-grants-and-unveils-new-interest-test">reinstatement of a portion of the funds withheld</a> and a <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/education-minister-dan-tehan-pledges-nationalinterest-test-for-grants/news-story/8625f2e48e428dd92c885bcbbaee6427">ministerial commitment to future transparency</a>.</p>
<p>It is time again to make the case for the humanities, and for proper public funding of higher education generally.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Barnes is a Research Associate on a project on the history of humanities institutions funded by the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Developments in the 80s set the parameters for much of the political discourse around the humanities since.Joel Barnes, Research Associate, Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412702020-06-30T19:10:53Z2020-06-30T19:10:53ZCheaper courses won’t help graduates get jobs – they need good careers advice and links with employers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343897/original/file-20200625-190531-1l6edm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-standing-near-arrows-on-asphalt-1156933444">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government’s higher education funding changes aim to ensure graduates are “job-ready”. Students will be charged more for courses the government deems have poorer employment outcomes, to incentivise them into cheaper courses with supposedly better job prospects. </p>
<p>But these changes seem ignorant of the research surrounding future jobs, and the unpredictable nature of the market. Experts <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FYA_TheNewWorkSmarts_July2017.pdf">predict today’s graduates</a> will have several different careers throughout their working life. A linear path from education to work makes little sense in a rapidly changing world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-government-actually-predict-the-jobs-of-the-future-141275">Can government actually predict the jobs of the future?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Changes can also happen fairly quickly that affect the availability of jobs. We saw this in the <a href="https://www.infoworld.com/article/2613473/it-job-market-recovering-faster-than-after-dot-com-bubble-burst.html">collapse of IT jobs</a> after the dot-com bubble burst in the 2000s, and the demise of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/world/australia/holden-automaker-factory-closes.html">Australia’s car manufacturing industry</a> in the last decade. </p>
<p>Instead of lowering fees for some courses to make them more attractive, the government should ensure better links between study and employment and strengthen careers advice for students to make better choices.</p>
<h2>Why cheaper courses won’t help with career choices</h2>
<p>Higher education expert <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2020/06/21/jobs-interests-and-student-course-choices/">Andrew Norton writes</a> 80% of students enrol in courses with a specific job in mind and only 10% based on subject interest. But he explains interests and job goals aren’t mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>He says when survey participants are given the choice of multiple answers for why they chose a course, interest in the field of study is the most popular – more than 90% of respondents say it’s important. While three quarters of respondents say they have a specific job in mind.</p>
<p>This fits with something called vocational interest profiles. This theory holds a person’s choice of occupation is influenced by their personality.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.11.012">Research on vocational interest profiles</a> found students with a stronger preference for jobs that involve working with people (such as in sales, police work or nursing) had a one in 50 chance of being enrolled in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) courses. </p>
<p>Students with a stronger preference for conventional type jobs (those that involve working with data, rules or procedures) had a one in two chance of being enrolled in a STEM course. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344700/original/file-20200630-103677-1r1d1wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People’s career choices are often influenced by their character.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-woman-sitting-chair-talking-nurse-1178442679">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on the strong link between a person’s interests and their career, the government’s plan to influence this choice by changing the price of courses will likely have a limited effect.</p>
<h2>Instead, career education must be better</h2>
<p>Research shows starting university students have a <a href="https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/894">poor understanding of the potential careers</a> their degree may lead to.</p>
<p>The government, universities and industry must work together to help students understand how their knowledge, skills and other attributes can be applied in the labour market, and where the opportunities exist.</p>
<p>Students also need better access to <a href="https://theconversation.com/careers-education-must-be-for-all-not-just-those-going-to-university-49217">career education</a> in high school and at university. Career services in universities have been <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789004410459/BP000016.xml">recognised as under-resourced</a>. </p>
<p>My research has found <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360080X.2019.1646380">careers advisers are often employed as generalists</a>, with workloads spread across career counselling, running workshops, developing curricula, designing programs and liaising with employers. </p>
<p>Employing more careers advisers will enable staff to specialise and deliver targeted support to more students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-funding-changes-are-meddling-with-the-purpose-of-universities-141133">The government's funding changes are meddling with the purpose of universities</a>
</strong>
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<hr>
<p>To be effective, career education should be <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1235633">embedded in all university courses</a>. It should provide opportunities for students to identify their knowledge, skills and other attributes and learn about the range of jobs and industries they can apply these. </p>
<p>It should also teach students how to identify and apply for jobs, and confidently articulate to an employer how they can contribute to the organisation. </p>
<p>Career education should be facilitated by <a href="https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/785">qualified career development practitioners</a> who can design career education programs in collaboration with academics and industry.</p>
<p>Examples of such collaboration include <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/opportunities/careers">La Trobe University’s Career Ready Advantage</a>, <a href="https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/faculties-and-divisions/administrative-divisions/grad-emp">Deakin Talent</a>, and <a href="https://students.flinders.edu.au/student-services/careers/horizon">Flinders University’s Horizon Award</a>. </p>
<h2>And labour market information</h2>
<p>In addition to increased career education, the government needs to provide better labour market information so students can make informed decisions about identifying appropriate job opportunities. </p>
<p>A few resources are currently available, but they only give snippets of information and do not connect. </p>
<p>Two examples include:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344698/original/file-20200630-103645-1nr2t16.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graduates in Agriculture and Environmental Studies from Charles Sturt University had a median salary of $60,000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.compared.edu.au/compare/study-areas">Screenshot ComparEd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.compared.edu.au/">ComparED</a> – a website for prospective students to compare courses and universities. The information is limited to graduate starting salaries, the proportion of graduates employed four months after course completion and graduates’ satisfaction with skill development achieved through the course. </p>
<p>This site could be improved by adding data, for each course, on the types of jobs and industries in which graduates find employment.</p>
<p><a href="https://joboutlook.gov.au/">Job Outlook</a> – a government website that provides labour market information such as average salary and predicted growth or decline in job vacancies. </p>
<p>It also has a handy <a href="https://joboutlook.gov.au/skills-match.aspx">Skills Match</a> app which gives suggestions on jobs that use skills you have. </p>
<p>The app has limited value for graduates as it determines skills based on jobs you have already done. As an example, if a student has worked as a barista, Skills Match recommends similar jobs such as a kitchen hand or cleaner. It doesn’t ask what course you are studying or have completed, so it won’t recommend barrister if you’ve been studying law. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-making-job-ready-degrees-cheaper-for-students-but-cutting-funding-to-the-same-courses-141280">The government is making ‘job-ready’ degrees cheaper for students – but cutting funding to the same courses</a>
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<p>Together, a deliberate and well-resourced strategy to support university students’ career education and links with industry will be a more effective way to increase labour market productivity than price signals on university courses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Brown is a professional member of, and has served on committees for the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS) and Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA). </span></em></p>Experts predict today’s graduates will have several different careers throughout their working life. The government’s university changes seem ignorant of this.Jason Brown, Lecturer in Careers and Employability Learning, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415242020-06-30T01:16:38Z2020-06-30T01:16:38ZThe government claims teaching is a national priority, but cheaper degrees won’t improve the profession<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344444/original/file-20200629-155316-pxhqtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-students-laboratory-lab-science-classroom-721325539">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Education Minister Dan Tehan <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/job-ready/better-university-funding-arrangements">recently announced</a> changes to Commonwealth contributions for university courses. As part of the government’s “Job-ready graduates” package, many humanities subjects would become more expensive but students would pay less for courses where the government believes the jobs of the future will be. They include science, languages and teaching.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">Fee cuts for nursing and teaching but big hikes for law and humanities in package expanding university places</a>
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<p>These proposed changes, still to be considered by the Senate, caused much outrage and criticism across the university sector. But the response from the school teaching community has been more muted. Maybe this is because education is flagged as a national priority – <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">undergraduates who study teaching</a> will have their HECS fees slashed by 45%.</p>
<p>Surely school teachers should be popping the champagne? </p>
<h2>Not so fast</h2>
<p>Teachers have never been more appreciated than during COVID-19. But neither expressions of support during a crisis, nor cheaper degrees, will overcome four deep structural challenges facing the profession:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>teaching needs to attract more high achievers to counteract a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8462.2008.00487.x">four-decade slide</a> in the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/education/why-our-best-and-brightest-don-t-teach-20190823-p52k6z.html">academic capability of teachers</a></p></li>
<li><p>domains with acute shortages including <a href="https://amsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/amsi-occasional-paper-2.pdf">maths</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-the-shortage-of-specialist-science-and-maths-teachers-will-be-hard-not-impossible-99651">science</a> and <a href="https://teach.qld.gov.au/become-a-teacher/high-demand-teaching-areas">languages</a> need more specialist teachers </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/number-crunchers-find-poorest-schools-have-the-poorest-teachers-20200205-p53y2s.html">disadvantaged schools</a>, particularly <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/independent_review_into_regional_rural_and_remote_education.pdf">in regional, rural and remote areas</a>, struggle to attract and retain great teachers</p></li>
<li><p>Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-better-use-of-australias-top-teachers-will-improve-student-outcomes-heres-how-to-do-it-131297">needs an expert teacher</a> career path so top teachers don’t have to move away from teaching to keep developing, and can get paid what they are worth.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>No policy can solve all of these problems. But the minister’s new policy solves none of them.</p>
<h2>Where the reforms fall short</h2>
<p>High achievers won’t suddenly decide to go into teaching because their HECS debt drops by a few thousand dollars. As we showed in a <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/attracting-high-achievers-to-teaching/">Grattan Institute 2019 report</a>, high achievers are turned off teaching by the lack of career progression and the poor mid-career pay. </p>
<p>By their 40s and 50s, teachers earn about <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-pay-and-more-challenge-heres-how-to-get-our-top-students-to-become-teachers-122271">A$50,000 less</a> than high-achieving peers who graduated with a maths degree, and A$100,000 less than those who took an economics, commerce or engineering degree.</p>
<p>Tehan argues financial incentives will encourage people into teaching, but no rational analysis could conclude decreasing HECS debt by $9,300 will compensate for forgoing $50,000 or more <em>every year</em> during your prime earnings years.</p>
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<p>The proposed changes in financial incentives won’t overcome the shortage of science, maths or language teachers either. That’s because HECS fees are also slashed in those fields of study.</p>
<p>Some additional students might choose these subjects as a first degree, then move into teaching via a graduate degree. But if this is the plan, it’s pretty obscure, and runs headlong into the salary and career progression challenges already discussed.</p>
<p>Would-be humanities students, now facing $43,000 degrees, have the strongest incentives to choose the cheaper teaching degree instead. Many would be wonderful teachers. </p>
<p>But pushing these students towards an undergraduate education degree may exacerbate the <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/profdev/careers/TSD-Report-2017.pdf">historical imbalance</a> between primary teachers (where supply exceeds demand) and secondary school teachers (demand exceeds supply). </p>
<p>That’s because students who do undergraduate education degrees are <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources/resource/ite-data-report-2019">50% more likely</a> to choose primary school teaching than secondary teaching. By contrast, postgraduate teaching students are twice as likely to choose secondary teaching than primary. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-making-job-ready-degrees-cheaper-for-students-but-cutting-funding-to-the-same-courses-141280">The government is making ‘job-ready’ degrees cheaper for students – but cutting funding to the same courses</a>
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<p>At worst, the minister’s financial incentives risk attracting average or below-average students who want a cheap degree, even if they don’t really care that much about teaching.</p>
<p>Zero for two so far. What about disadvantaged and regional schools, and career progression?</p>
<h2>What the government should do</h2>
<p>Rather than pitching teaching as a cheap way to go to university, the government should set a target to <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-pay-and-more-challenge-heres-how-to-get-our-top-students-to-become-teachers-122271">double the number of high achievers choosing teaching</a>.</p>
<p>Step one is to offer $10,000-a-year scholarships to high achievers. Cash-in-hand is dramatically more valuable to a young person than a drop in HECS fees which is on the never-never anyway.</p>
<p>Some of these scholarships could be used to encourage high performers to work in regional schools – complementing the extra support for regional students and universities in Tehan’s new package. </p>
<p>Scholarships would also give governments a finely targeted tool to match supply and demand to help get more specialist teachers in areas of need. The UK boosts scholarships for chemistry teachers when they need more chemistry teachers, and so on. And students respond, with 3% more applications for every <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7222/CBP-7222.pdf">£1,000 increase</a>.</p>
<p>Step two is to create an expert teacher career path to lead teacher professional learning. </p>
<p>In this system, Instructional Specialists, located in every school and with up to 50% non-teaching time to support colleagues, would set the standard for good teaching and build teaching capacity in their school. And Master Teachers, working across schools, would be dedicated full-time to improving teaching and connecting schools to research. </p>
<p>Creating this clearly-defined career progression would remove some of the top reasons <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/921-Attracting-high-achievers-to-teaching.pdf">high achievers give</a> for not choosing teaching – such lack of intellectual challenge and low earnings. </p>
<p>These proposals don’t require new federal money. Our <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-better-use-of-australias-top-teachers-will-improve-student-outcomes-heres-how-to-do-it-131297">2020 report on top teachers</a> showed existing Gonski 2.0 funding increases can fund the scholarships and the expert teacher career path. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/making-better-use-of-australias-top-teachers-will-improve-student-outcomes-heres-how-to-do-it-131297">Making better use of Australia's top teachers will improve student outcomes: here's how to do it</a>
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<p>Instead, the government has proposed an inflexible and centrally-planned change to funding university places, and dressed it up in the language of incentives.</p>
<p>They identify education as a national priority, but the cheaper fees plan won’t solve the challenges facing the profession, so what’s the point?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and Grattan uses the income to pursue its activities.</span></em></p>Teachers have never been more appreciated than during COVID-19. But neither expressions of support, nor cheaper degrees will overcome the four big structural challenges facing the profession.Peter Goss, School Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1411212020-06-21T20:08:17Z2020-06-21T20:08:17ZIf the government listened to business leaders, they would encourage humanities education, not pull funds from it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343016/original/file-20200620-43187-1ge6rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/book-stacktextbook-on-desk-library-room-1748048714">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government’s announcement they will <a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">more than double</a> the cost of humanities and communications degrees for university students has taken the sector by surprise – not least because it goes against increasing evidence that these programs are the key to our nation’s future success.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">Fee cuts for nursing and teaching but big hikes for law and humanities in package expanding university places</a>
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<p>If the government wants to support university courses that lead to jobs, they’d do well to listen to their business leaders who have been quite clear, in recent years, about the sorts of graduates they’re looking for.</p>
<h2>Business leaders call for humanities</h2>
<p>Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, Jennifer Westacott, <a href="https://www.bca.com.au/the-true-value-of-humanities">said in a 2016 speech</a> all 21st century successful leaders would need “some form of humanities perspective and education”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I argue this because I believe our economic and technological success has not been matched with a constant orientation towards a better human condition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She said the humanities produce people who can “ask the right questions, think for themselves, explain what they think, and turn those ideas into actions”.</p>
<p>She went further to say the key skills required by industry and business were nested in the humanities: “critical thinking, synthesis, judgement and an understanding of ethical constructs”.</p>
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<p>Another valued industry body, Deloitte Access Economics, <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/value-humanities.html">reported</a> in 2018 that humanities and communications graduates delivered 30 technical skills hugely sought-after by employers.</p>
<p>Their analysis was based on graduate outcomes and employer satisfaction surveys, coupled with wide-ranging consultations with global business, public sector agencies and researchers. </p>
<p>They found 72% of employers “demanded” communication skills when hiring, but only 27% of potential hires actually had those skills.</p>
<p>They also found transferable skills, such as as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, innovation and emotional judgement, “have become widely acknowledged as important in driving business success”.</p>
<p>The report concluded</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] humanities education and research has a fundamental role to play in understanding how our society and economy can adapt to these changes, in creating future value, and in helping individuals gain rewarding employment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If our purpose is to incentivise programs that lead to jobs, which will equip the nation for the future, and will elicit innovative and creative responses to complex problems, then we must encourage broad study in the humanities and social sciences.</p>
<h2>Our society calls for humanities</h2>
<p>Most of us working in these fields can explain with great conviction the richness our disciplines bring to students, and ultimately to the societies they live in. </p>
<p>They bring an understanding of the world, of past mistakes and future threats, of current failings we can try to solve, and of medical, social and environmental challenges that confront us.</p>
<p>Our ability to understand the impact of the current global pandemic or migration, the environmental crisis, social cohesion, poverty and its many side-effects, domestic violence, the effects of social media and politics are daily concerns in the humanities.</p>
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<p>And increasingly, we are aware the scale of these problems and the failure of our current institutions to deal with them – the often-discussed “crisis of trust” – cannot be solved by science, mathematics, engineering and technology alone.</p>
<p>It is the contribution of the humanities and social sciences to the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) disciplines that may ultimately lead us to some real and applied solutions to the crises we face.</p>
<p>It’s therefore curious the education minister Dan Tehan is <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/uni-fees-to-be-slashed-for-in-demand-courses-but-cost-of-arts-degrees-set-to-soar">encouraging humanities students</a> to add a “job-ready” edge to their studies by doing (soon-to-be much cheaper) courses in technology, science and maths. </p>
<p>And at the same time, he is actively discouraging students of technology, science and maths from being able to take some humanities courses as part of their degree because of the prohibitive higher cost.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humanities-graduates-earn-more-than-those-who-study-science-and-maths-141112">Humanities graduates earn more than those who study science and maths</a>
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<p>“So if you want to study history, also think about studying teaching. If you want to study philosophy, also think about studying a language. If you want to study law, also think about studying IT”, <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/minister-education-dan-tehan-national-press-club-address">Tehan said</a> in his National Press Club address.</p>
<p>Interdisciplinary knowledge, and combining humanities and social science with the STEM disciplines, is a strong concept. We already do it in many of our communications and arts degrees. </p>
<p>But to suggest this should only be one-way traffic is highly problematic.</p>
<p>Microsoft president Brad Smith and head of Microsoft’s AI division Harry Shum <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-president-says-tech-needs-liberal-arts-majors-2018-1?r=AU&IR=T">recently wrote</a> that lessons from liberal arts would be “critical to unleashing the full potential of AI”.</p>
<p>They wrote</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] skilling-up for an AI-powered world involves more than science, technology, engineering, and math. As computers behave more like humans, the social sciences and humanities will become even more important. Languages, art, history, economics, ethics, philosophy, psychology and human development courses can teach critical, philosophical and ethics-based skills that will be instrumental in the development and management of AI solutions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://catalog.mit.edu/interdisciplinary/undergraduate-programs/degrees/humanities-engineering/">Leading universities</a> around the world are increasingly combining core study in engineering and IT with humanities study. They acknowledge the communication, interpersonal and adaptable skills gives a much longer “shelf life” to the technical skills learned while at university.</p>
<h2>And let’s not forget world leaders with Arts degrees</h2>
<p>The Academy of Social Sciences <a href="https://socialsciences.org.au/news/devaluing-humanities-and-social-science-education-will-leave-Australia-worse-off/">reports</a> two out of three CEOs of Australia’s ASX200 listed companies have a degree in the social sciences. There are similar proportions of government senior executives, and federal parliamentarians holding social science degrees.</p>
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<p>And of course, the roll call of important world leaders of the 20th and 21st century with a humanities or social science degree – Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and Indira Gandhi among them – tells us our messages now must be around the importance of the humanities, not the reverse.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/university-students-arent-cogs-in-a-market-they-need-more-than-a-narrow-focus-on-skills-140058">University students aren't cogs in a market. They need more than a narrow focus on 'skills'</a>
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<p>So I return to the start. There is increasing confirmation, in Australia and across the world, that humanities, social sciences and communication are key to a viable future.</p>
<p>On what evidence, then, has the federal government proposed these changes? We have to trust this is not an attempt to muzzle critical thought and new ideas in our universities – but rather, a misguided attempt that needs a little more work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Forde does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government has more than doubled the cost of humanities degrees to encourage ‘job-ready’ graduates. But on what evidence?Susan Forde, Director, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/893072017-12-21T00:03:08Z2017-12-21T00:03:08ZUniversities get an unsustainable policy for Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200285/original/file-20171220-4973-1gfpm1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government is proposing to save A$2.2 billion on education over the next four years, which will hit students the hardest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Monday, the government announced its third attempt to significantly reduce spending on higher education in the <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2017-18/content/myefo/html/">Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook</a> (MYEFO). </p>
<p>It’s unclear whether the proposal is intended to be a long-term policy, or a bargaining chip to achieve the cuts Education Minister Simon Birmingham <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/birmingham/focusing-facts-higher-education-reform">tried to push through earlier this year</a>. </p>
<p>Overall, it’s not very good policy, as it’s primarily about making savings rather than improving higher education. Australia needs a higher education system that can respond to change, not one that is locked down. It will become extremely difficult for any minister to reverse these funding cuts after a couple of years. Students will pay a greater share of costs as a result. </p>
<h2>What’s in the proposal?</h2>
<p>The government is <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-reform-package-student-overview">proposing</a> to achieve savings in ways that don’t require Senate approval. It proposes to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>freeze Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funding for bachelor level courses in 2018 and 2019 at 2017 levels. This means no increases for any additional bachelor degree student places or for increased costs due to inflation</p></li>
<li><p>increase CGS funding for bachelor level courses in 2020 and subsequent years by the growth rate in the 18-64 year old population (so, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3222.0main+features52012%20(base)%20to%202101">around 1.2% a year</a>), but only for universities which meet performance targets (the detail of which will be discussed in 2018) </p></li>
<li><p>reduce the number of funded postgraduate student places by removing 3,000 postgraduate places, which we are told are not used (and hence do not cost anything)</p></li>
<li><p>cease funding over 1,000 student places <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/coalition-announces-additional-university-places">allocated in 2013</a> to meet priority skill and regional needs - 419 postgraduate places in allied health and nursing, 533 in language diplomas and 250 in enabling/tertiary preparation courses; and</p></li>
<li><p>change the current allocation of student places for diplomas, associate degrees and postgraduate level courses to better meet industry needs and reflect institutional outcomes (the detail of which will be discussed in 2018).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The government also indicated it would pursue some savings requiring Senate approval. These are to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>lower the HELP repayment threshold to A$45,000 and make other changes to the HELP repayment schedule to speed up student debt repayments; and</p></li>
<li><p>introduce a lifetime lending limit across all HELP programs, including HECS-HELP, capped at A$104,440 for most students and A$150,000 for students in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What will the proposals do?</h2>
<p>The government estimates these proposals will save around A$2.2 billion over the next four years. Most of the savings come from freezing funding for bachelor degree courses in 2018 and 2019, and the limit on funding growth for those courses from 2020 onwards. </p>
<p>This funding is delivered through the student place subsidies paid under the CGS. Combined with a student’s contribution (usually paid through HECS-HELP), these cover the cost of teaching students.</p>
<p>The CGS provides subsidies for all courses, not just bachelor degree courses. It also provides a number of loadings, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-approach-to-regional-higher-education-is-essential-to-our-economic-future-88537">the regional loading</a>, to help to meet extra costs. In 2017, CGS spending will be around A$7.1 billion in total. </p>
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<p>The main target of the government’s proposals is the A$6 billion of spending on bachelor degree courses. Currently, universities can offer as many places for bachelor students as they want in the demand-driven system, so spending on this element of the CGS can increase without government approval. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uncapping-of-university-places-achieved-what-it-set-out-to-do-so-why-is-it-dubbed-a-policy-failure-61082">Uncapping of university places achieved what it set out to do. So why is it dubbed a policy failure?</a>
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<p>In the case of other courses, such as diplomas, associate degrees and postgraduate degrees, the government still controls how many places a university can offer. It controls its spending on these courses and special loadings. </p>
<p>The government will no longer try to lower the amounts of its contribution to student places, which are specified in higher education funding legislation. Instead, it will use a provision in the legislation that allows it to put a cap on funding for bachelor degree courses without Senate approval. </p>
<p>This is achieved simply by inserting a sentence specifying the upper limit on bachelor degree course funding in a university’s CGS funding agreement. The only restriction placed on the government is that the amount cannot go down from the previous year. So, in 2018, a university’s maximum funding for bachelor degree courses cannot be less than it was for 2017.</p>
<p>Universities don’t have the option not to sign these funding agreements. They are a precondition of getting any CGS funding and having any Commonwealth supported students. </p>
<p>Currently, the government will pay a university for every domestic bachelor degree student according to the legislated subsidy levels for the relevant year. It will still do this, but only up to the maximum amount specified in the funding agreement - then it will just stop. </p>
<p>When the maximum amounts for every university in 2018 are added up, they will not exceed the A$6 billion expected to be spent in 2017. The same goes in 2019.</p>
<h2>What happens after the freeze lifts?</h2>
<p>From 2020, a university may have its maximum amount for student places in bachelor degree courses increased by the growth rate in the 18-64 year old population, if the university meets performance targets. On current <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3222.0main+features52012%20(base)%20to%202101">ABS population projections</a>, that is likely to be around 1.2% each year.</p>
<p>Assuming all universities meet the performance targets, there are two ways of looking at the impact:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If a university grows its bachelor degree student places to match Australia’s growing population, the government subsidy component will never be increased to compensate for the increased costs of providing bachelor level places due to inflation. </p></li>
<li><p>If a university never increases its bachelor degree student places, the government subsidy component cannot rise by more than 1.2%. If inflation is 2.5%, the real value of the subsidy will be reduced by 1.3%.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Education Minister Simon Birmingham <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/birmingham/interview-abc-rn-breakfast-hamish-macdonald">has been asked</a> what his policy will mean for the number of domestic student places. He can’t answer these questions because it’s not his decision. Universities are unlikely to increase domestic bachelor degree student places and the policy settings are likely to distort university decision-making.</p>
<p>Universities may decide to have fewer students in courses with above-average subsidy levels, such as health sciences, nursing, engineering and agriculture. They may increase students in courses with low subsidy levels, such as law, accounting, economics and administration. </p>
<p>The government hasn’t released estimates of how university funding will be reduced due to restricting growth in bachelor degree funding. The graph below indicates how it is likely to be reduced each year to 2025, based on a fairly conservative set of assumptions. It shows how rapidly the savings from such a proposal escalate. </p>
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<p>If the government’s policy is implemented, any minister would find it almost impossible to reverse. Ministers who want to change policy and increase spending have to find savings from elsewhere to cover the costs. The cost of reversing this policy would be massive, as it takes only a few years for it to produce savings of over a billion dollars a year.</p>
<h2>How does this affect students?</h2>
<p>While the government will substantially reduce its funding contribution by eroding its real value, students will continue to pay more as their contribution to the cost of their degree continues to increase with inflation. </p>
<p>In addition, if a university decides to grow its bachelor level student places despite not receiving any government subsidy for them, the student will still be required to make their contribution. </p>
<p>Both of these factors mean the 30-year trend of shifting the cost of higher education from government to students will continue. This is despite it being a major part of the reason student debts are continuing to grow and greater amounts are not being repaid - a problem the government claims it’s trying to fix. </p>
<h2>The demand-driven system is not unsustainable</h2>
<p>The rapid expansion that occurred under the demand-driven system <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/University-enrolment-growth-remains-stable--latest-data#.Wjr52lT1VBy">has largely stabilised</a> and total funding for general research and tertiary education has declined in real terms by 1.3% over the last four years. </p>
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<p>Previous savings paid for most of the demand-driven expansion in student places and Australia’s spending on tertiary education as a share of GDP is <a href="http://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/beyond-the-demand-driven-obsession-and-policy-impasse">now lower</a> than it was before the demand-driven system was introduced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vocational-education-and-training-sector-is-still-missing-out-on-government-funding-report-88863">Vocational education and training sector is still missing out on government funding: report</a>
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<p>The government is giving the objective of returning the budget to surplus a higher priority than the development of our tertiary education sector. This includes the vocational education and training system, which has already had its funding eroded over many years. </p>
<p>We can have both budget repair and well-funded tertiary education, but not with this policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Warburton is a part-time consultant and associate of PhillipsKPA, an education industry consulting group. He worked for Universities Australia in 2015 and prior to that was a public servant for 32 years, advising both Labor and Coalition Governments on higher education. </span></em></p>The cuts to higher education funding are more about making savings than improving higher education, and would be extremely hard to change in the future.Mark Warburton, Honorary Senior Fellow, LH Martin Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/864002017-10-30T19:02:47Z2017-10-30T19:02:47ZHigher education cuts will be felt in the classroom, not the lab<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191985/original/file-20171026-28083-rpss5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teaching-focused academics are often considered to be "lesser" academics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/report/productivity-review.pdf">Productivity Commission report</a>, the bias of universities in favour of research over teaching was exposed. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/news/consultation-future-higher-education-reform-cost-of-delivery-report">proposed higher education reform</a> that would have seen A$380m cut from university funding was <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-governments-28-billion-university-funding-cuts-shot-down-by-the-senate-20171019-gz47yf.html">rejected by the Senate</a>, but the word is that Education Minister Simon Birmingham has returned to the bunker to develop a new strategy. The most likely scenario is that vice-chancellors will need to cut costs, and we know where the axe will fall. Teaching-focused academics will be the hardest hit, and the cuts will be felt in the classroom rather than the research laboratory. </p>
<h2>What is a teaching-focused academic?</h2>
<p>The term <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/35663">teaching-focused academic</a> has been used to include teaching-only academics, teaching-focused academics and teaching-intensive academics. The number of teaching-focused academics in Australia has increased from 755 in 2005 to 3696 in <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/2016-staff-full-time-equivalence">2016</a>. The number of teaching-focused academics is also increasing in the <a href="https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/shifting_academic_careers_final.pdf">UK</a> and <a href="http://cou.on.ca/reports/teaching-stream-positions/">Canada</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/performance-funding-is-not-the-way-to-improve-university-teaching-86230">Performance funding is not the way to improve university teaching</a>
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<p>In Australia, the rise of the teaching-focused academic is credited to universities seeking to increase their <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/excellence-research-australia">Excellence in Research (ERA) rankings</a>. Poor performing teaching-research academics tend to become teaching-focused academics <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-017-0138-9">to maintain ERA rankings</a>. </p>
<p>Teaching-focused academics are often considered to be “lesser” academics (<a href="https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/627">Academicus minor</a>). While evidence of research success is measured by volume (number of publications and research income), evidence of teaching scholarship is less quantifiable. </p>
<p><a href="http://apo.org.au/node/35663">For example</a>, 84% of academics consider teaching is important, but 29% believe teaching is rewarded in promotion. The data support their perception, with less than 10% of teaching-only academics above senior lecturer level, while more than 30% of teaching-research academics are above senior lecturer level. </p>
<p>Even when a teaching-focused academic is <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2011.536970">recognised</a> for teaching excellence, it may not be acknowledged by their peers, or they may be <a href="http://www.flinders.edu.au/Teaching_and_Learning_Files/awards/College/Israel_executive%20summary%20and%20advice.pdf">subject to ridicule</a> from other academics. </p>
<h2>“Rank and sack” method shows bias against teaching-focused academics</h2>
<p>Teaching-focused academics are more likely to be made redundant. Vice-chancellors tend to use the “rank and sack” method to protect researchers. Academics are ranked on the basis of research volume, and those individuals <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/the-question/should-unproductive-academics-be-made-redundant-20120413-1wyle.html">below a certain threshold are sacked</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/uwa-academics-sent-redundancy-letters/news-story/0c93a9548d48368ff16d9808337c4f10">twist</a> to the “rank and sack” method is to give the academic the option to become teaching-focused. An attitude of “anyone can teach” prevails. The departure of teaching-focused academics is felt in the classroom. These are the academics who keep up-to-date with technology, current trends in assessment practices and curriculum development.</p>
<p>University recruitment is focused more on research performance than teaching performance, to the detriment of teaching. In Australia, permanent research-only academics outnumber teaching-only academics <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/2016-staff-full-time-equivalence">four to one</a>. Teaching-focused academics are further marginalised by casual employment. <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/35663">82% are casual employees</a>. </p>
<p>Over the last decade there has been a significant increase in casual staff, <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/australias-universities/key-facts-and-data#.WfFn3ROCxBw">primarily to support teaching</a>. When a tenured position becomes available, an academic with a track record in research is often appointed rather than a teaching-focused and, most likely, casual academic. </p>
<p>In Canada, universities hiring a research academic with a proven record rather than a popular teacher for a tenured position <a href="http://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/those-who-can-teach/">led to a petition</a> from students. The popular teacher’s contract was extended. </p>
<p>Not renewing casual contracts is an easy fix for a manager who needs to cut costs. It isn’t so easy on the academic who relies on the income. Recently, an academic who had worked as a casual academic in Sydney for 15 years and was passed over for tenured positions <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/dangers-lurk-in-the-postmodern-career-that-is-missing-job-security-20161017-gs3u5o.html">committed suicide</a>. </p>
<h2>Cultural bias against teaching-focused academics is national</h2>
<p>At a national level, there is further evidence that teaching is not valued at universities. The <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/history-arc">Australian Research Council</a> (ARC) distributes much of the category one research funding to universities. It started in 1946. In contrast, the Australian government’s teaching and learning body started as the Carrick Institute in 2006, and was renamed <a href="http://www.olt.gov.au/">Office of Learning and Teaching</a> (OLT). The OLT was shut down in June 2016. What would be the reaction to dissolving the ARC?</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00143643">In 1992</a> Ruth Neumann, after interviewing heads of department and university executive, revealed a cultural bias against teaching-focused academics. Knowledge of the discipline was valued more than teaching skills. The following quotes are from her report:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>academics involved in research were described as being: alert, enthusiastic, excited, keen, curious, fresh, and more alive.</p>
<p>the teaching of those academics not involved in research was described as: repetitive, dull, unstimulating, unexciting, dry, sterile and stagnant. </p>
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<p>This cultural bias against teaching-focused academics may not be so explicit, but statistics regarding casualisation, poor promotion prospects, redundancy priorities and the attitude to teaching awards indicate that very little has changed. This bias <a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-only-roles-could-mark-the-end-of-your-academic-career-74826">still exists</a>. </p>
<p>Given this, it is easy to predict the outcome of any cuts to university funding. Teaching-focused academics will be sacrificed. Casual contracts for teaching-focused academics won’t be renewed. Tenured teaching-focused academics will be made redundant. The teaching load of academics who don’t have time to do research will be increased. But ERA rankings won’t be affected and the lights will still burn bright in university research laboratories around the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Whelan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cultural bias against teaching-only academics will see them get the axe in funding cuts to higher education.Michael Whelan, Lecturer in Environmental Science, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/863912017-10-26T19:13:14Z2017-10-26T19:13:14ZStudents will suffer if Australia and New Zealand change tertiary fee agreement<p>New Zealand’s new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has asserted that the current tuition fee arrangements for Australian students in New Zealand will end if the policy does not remain reciprocal. In a debate during the general election campaign, Adern <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/international/2017/09/05/nz-labour-warn-crackdown-on-aust-students.html">stated</a>: </p>
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<p>If [Australia] lock us out of tertiary education, we will lock them out of it here. </p>
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<p>This “locking out” does not refer to a formal barrier - such as a law impeding enrolments - but would be introduced by creating negative financial consequences for students. In other words, Australians interested in studying on the other side of the ditch could potentially face quadrupling in tuition fees charged by New Zealand education providers.</p>
<p>She recently reiterated that position in an <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/international/2017/10/22/ardern-firm-on-crackdown-for-aust-students.html">interview</a>, stating movement from the Australian government would have flow-on effects in New Zealand. </p>
<h2>Turnbull government has to make the first move</h2>
<p>Ardern has emphasised that she is not planning to take the first step. Instead, Australians’ eligibility to subsidised tertiary education in New Zealand will depend on the actions of the Turnbull government, which in May this year announced its <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/ed17-0138_-_he_-_glossy_budget_report_acc.pdf">Higher Education Reform Package</a>. </p>
<p>The proposed tertiary funding reform suggests a division of students into three tiers: citizens (tier one), permanent residents and NZ special category visa holders (tier two), and international students (tier three). Under the new policy, students in all tiers would see their tuition fee increase. However, the proposed changes would have the largest impact on tier two, including most New Zealanders, who would lose their entitlement to Australian government subsidies (<a href="https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-grant-scheme-cgs">Commonwealth Grant Scheme</a>). </p>
<p>This means that from January 2018 onwards, all new tier two students are required to pay full domestic fees. At the moment, the average public share of course costs in Australia is around 58%. Removing this (i.e. the CGS subsidy) gives an indication of the financial impact of this policy. For instance, in a four-year degree program, NZ students would face average annual fee increases of A$8,000-9,000 compared to the approximately A$2,000-3,600 annual increases proposed for domestic students. The increase is higher in courses attracting more government subsidies, such as medicine, where students would be locked out of more than A$130,000 government funding during the six-year programme. </p>
<p>As a way of compensating for the massive fee increase, the new scheme offers to extend the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-loan-program-help">Higher Education Loan Program</a> (HELP) to New Zealanders and other tier two students, which would provide access to funding to cover the tuition fee costs. This would improve <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/2867078/upload_binary/2867078.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">the existing situation</a>, where most NZ students are not able to access the loan scheme in Australia and have to pay upfront fees. </p>
<h2>How would Australian students in NZ be affected?</h2>
<p>The financial consequences for Australian students in New Zealand would depend on the final policy details. No information has been released yet. In New Zealand the government subsidy covers around 70% of course fees (<a href="https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwivnuiayY3XAhWEi5QKHXKUDuwQFgglMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.govt.nz%2Fassets%2FDocuments%2FMinistry%2FRegulatory-Impact-Statements%2FBudget-2016-Changes-to-funding-settings-for-overseas-study.pdf&usg=AOvVaw27wOhsDWDot_DD1U2z9ljf">on average</a>) which Australian students might be asked to pay out of their own pockets.</p>
<p>There is also a possibility that Australian students could be charged international tuition fees, fees for most of them would quadruple. A Bachelor of Arts degree could go up from about NZ$5,800 (at <a href="http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/sites/default/files/uni-nz/documents/Fees%20for%20Domestic%20Students%202017.pdf">two universities in Auckland</a>), to at about NZ$28,000 a year. This is approximately <a href="http://www.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/686572/Fees-insert-161017-v11.pdf">what international students pay</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, the existing rules in New Zealand provide other entitlements for Australian students. This includes access to student allowances and loans (with lesser restrictions than applied to New Zealanders in Australia) that could be at risk. </p>
<p>The proposed changes would have a potential impact on at around 15,000 students (<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/92160172/student-fee-hikes-and-the-lowdown-on-transtasman-tertiary-education">around 4,600 Australian and 12,000 NZ students</a>), making up at around 1% of all domestic enrolments in both countries.</p>
<p>Though these changes would involve a fairly small group of people, the impacts on the individuals affected would be significant. It would limit the study opportunities for Australians and New Zealanders interested in studying outside their country of citizenship. </p>
<p>Currently, the tertiary funding plan is on hold. The Turnbull Government’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-governments-28-billion-university-funding-cuts-shot-down-by-the-senate-20171019-gz47yf.html">reforms were rejected</a> by the Senate. However, if the policy was enacted and implemented as planned starting in January 2018, this would bring one aspect of the existing ANZAC relationship to an end. </p>
<h2>Squabble over students is part of a bigger problem</h2>
<p>Even in the late 1980s/early 1990s, with significant tuition fee reforms for both <a href="http://gse.buffalo.edu/org/inthigheredfinance/files/Country_Profiles/Australia/Australia.pdf">Australia</a> and <a href="https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/28597">New Zealand</a>, this entitlement to equal access to government tuition fee subsidies was not removed. </p>
<p>The tuition fee policy change is only a minor element in the wider context of reciprocity arrangements between Australia and New Zealand. The rights of New Zealanders living in Australia have been <a href="https://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/806/PSC-dp-65.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">eroded</a> significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-the-choice-bro-kiwis-in-australia-get-a-raw-deal-18545">since 2001</a>. So far, New Zealand has continued to provide <a href="http://www.ozkiwi2001.org/2016/03/rights-comparison/">fairly generous rights</a> to Australians without retaliation. </p>
<p>In the larger context, the one-sided decision making can have a damaging impact on the trust between the two countries. There is also a concern that similar retaliation motivated policy responses could be forthcoming in other areas, further fracturing the existing trans-Tasman arrangements. This is why the Australian government should consult with its New Zealand counterpart when making decisions affecting both countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pii-Tuulia Nikula does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Zealand’s Prime Minister-designate Jacinda Ardern has vowed to take retaliatory action if the Turnbull government changes fee arrangements for New Zealanders studying in Australia.Pii-Tuulia Nikula, Lecturer, Eastern Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848432017-10-08T19:06:38Z2017-10-08T19:06:38ZFive things senators (and everyone else) should know about changes to HELP debts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188887/original/file-20171004-31791-1sts2fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">HELP repayment arrangements have long term consequences for students and their families.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parliament will resume on October 16, when the Senate will consider the government’s <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-reform-package-0">proposed changes to higher education</a>. There has been a lot of discussion about many of the changes, but little about the impact of the proposed change to HELP repayments. Here are five things Senators should know.</p>
<h2>1. The HELP repayment threshold will vary according to family circumstances</h2>
<p><a href="http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/num_act/bsa2016244/sch1.html">Legislation</a> to drop the minimum HELP repayment threshold for 2018-19 from $57,730 to around $52,000 was passed by the parliament last year. The government is now proposing to further reduce it to $42,000. This is around two-thirds of annualised average weekly earnings (AWE). This threshold will not apply to everyone with a HELP debt. </p>
<p>In 1997-98, the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/hecs#Table3">Howard government reduced the threshold</a> to two-thirds of AWE. At the time, it decided that a person should not have to make a repayment if they did not pay the full Medicare Levy. Seven years later, it relented and increased the threshold, but it did not remove the link with the Medicare Levy. This provision is still in the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/hesa2003271/s154.1.html">Higher Education Support Act</a>, but only families with three or more children benefit from it. The Turnbull government is not proposing to remove it.</p>
<p>The table below shows the income at which people in different family types will be paying the full Medicare Levy, and where they would start repaying their HELP debt if the government’s proposal had started in 2016-17. It also shows what these income levels will be if the Medicare levy is increased from 2% to 2.5%, as currently proposed. </p>
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<h2>2. HELP repayments substantially increase average effective tax rates</h2>
<p>An <a href="https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/publication/9083/effective-marginal-tax-rates">effective marginal tax rate</a> is the proportion of an additional dollar of earnings that is lost in additional tax and reduced government benefits.</p>
<p>It sounds reasonable to say that HELP repayments start at 1% and then gradually increase, only reaching 10% at an income of around $120,000. </p>
<p>This obscures the fact that these rates <a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/payingbackmyloan/loan-repayment/pages/loan-repayment#HowMuchWillMyRepaymentsBe">are applied to total income</a>, rather than the extra “marginal” dollar of income. HELP repayments generally increase average effective tax rates on income above the threshold by more than 13 cents in the dollar.</p>
<p>The chart below graphs the government’s proposed HELP repayment arrangement. It compares this with two alternative approaches to working out a person’s HELP repayment - one applying a 13% marginal rate and the other a 15% marginal rate, both from the $42,000 threshold. </p>
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<p>For people with income between $50,000 and $80,000, the proposed arrangement is about the same as making a HELP repayment of 13 cents of every dollar above the threshold. For people with income of around $120,000, it is about 15 cents of every dollar above the threshold. People with very high incomes may pay less than 13 cents in the dollar.</p>
<p>The logic for preferring this particular “step function” over a marginal rate approach is unclear. A marginal rate approach would be easier to integrate with other aspects of the tax transfer system and would remove the complexity associated with 19 separate HELP thresholds and repayment rates.</p>
<h2>3. There are significant adverse interactions with the tax-transfer system</h2>
<p>A person can experience a large loss of disposable income when their earnings increase. One reason this may occur is that they hit a HELP repayment threshold and their HELP repayment rises.</p>
<p>For example, if the Government’s proposal was in place in 2016-17, this would happen when the earnings of a person in a single income family with two children increased from $54,606 to $54,607. At this income, the person’s HELP repayments would commence at 3.5% of total income and they would be required to repay around $1,630. The one extra dollar would cause the person’s disposable income to go down.</p>
<p>This might not be much of a problem if the person’s disposable income only went down once, but that’s not what happens. For a single income family with two children, it would happen 15 times under the government’s proposed HELP repayment arrangement. </p>
<p>The disposable income of this family might also go down due to “sudden death” reductions in <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/family-tax-benefit">family tax benefit</a> (FTB). FTB Part A is paid for each child and income tested, and FTB Part B gives extra help to single parents and families with one main income. At $80,000, the family loses more than $1,450 in FTB Part A supplements. At $100,000, it loses nearly $3,200 as it is no longer eligible for FTB Part B.</p>
<p>While this family is unlikely to make a decision about whether to earn one extra dollar, the parents will likely make decisions about whether it is worth working more while also trying to care for their children. They might not bother.</p>
<h2>4. Incentives to earn will be worst for single parents and single income couples</h2>
<p>The impact of the new HELP repayment arrangements on work incentives will vary according to family circumstances.</p>
<p>Currently, the government keeps around half of every extra dollar earned above the HELP threshold for a single person with no children. The government’s proposal will lift that to 50-60% of every extra dollar. The situation is much the same for a “professional” couple where both partners have high incomes.</p>
<p>For a single person with children and a single earner couple with children, the situation is much harsher. The chart below shows how the disposable income of a family with two children would increase as the earnings of a single working partner rise. </p>
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<p>A single person with children and a single earner in a couple with children will often have average effective tax rates of over 80% for income from their new HELP threshold of around $50,000 up to $122,000.</p>
<p>In this income range, each extra dollar results in the government receiving 32.5 or 37 cents in tax, two cents in Medicare Levy and reducing family tax benefit by 20 cents. It receives additional HELP repayments averaging between 13 and 15 cents in the dollar. It also makes savings from “sudden death” family tax benefit reductions.</p>
<p>These reductions come from government cuts aimed at removing middle class welfare. HELP repayments are being tightened for a similar reason. When governments make multiple budget cuts from different social programs they interact, sometimes producing undesirable outcomes.</p>
<p>Average effective tax rates exceeding 80% over a large range of income for a family with children seems to be a punitive and undesirable outcome. There is considerable scope for a better integration of HELP repayment arrangements with other aspects of the tax-transfer system than exists with the government’s proposal.</p>
<h2>5. It will still take students one to two decades to repay their debts</h2>
<p>There are now <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/study-and-training-support-loans/types-of-loans/">seven student loan programs</a> and most students borrow under more than one. Students study for longer than they used to and often pay full fees for “professional” postgraduate study. A two year masters course in an applied health science can add $35,000 to $50,000 in debt. A student can borrow $2,000 each year to help with study costs – a total of $10,000 over five years. </p>
<p>These schemes are administered in ways that do not draw student’s attention to how much they are borrowing or how it might affect them in future. Today’s students are unlikely to complete their higher education and enter the workforce with a HELP debt of less than $30,000. HELP debts of $45,000 to $55,000 will be more usual. Debts of $60,000 to nearly $100,000 will be common.</p>
<p>Students are likely to take a minimum of eight or nine years to repay their debts, with many taking 13-15 years, and a significant number taking close to two decades.</p>
<p>HELP repayment arrangements have long term consequences for students and their families. They will affect their living standards and ability to accumulate assets, like a home. The decisions these students take about working while they are in their 20s and 30s will affect their future income and standard of living in retirement.</p>
<p>The proposed arrangements deserve the close scrutiny of Senators.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Warburton is a part-time consultant and associate of PhillipsKPA, an education industry consulting group. He worked for Universities Australia in 2015 and prior to that was a public servant for 32 years, advising both Labor and Coalition Governments on higher education. </span></em></p>Senators should consider how repayment thresholds vary depending on family circumstances, the impacts on taxes and how long students will be saddled with debt.Mark Warburton, Honorary Senior Fellow, LH Martin Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/812512017-08-10T00:09:52Z2017-08-10T00:09:52ZDo college presidents still matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180626/original/file-20170801-22841-uslwtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Three influential college presidents: Charles Eliot of Harvard (in office 1869-1909), Robert Maynard Hutchins of the University of Chicago (1929-45) and Drew Faust of Harvard (2007-18).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Edward Kitch/Charles Krupa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drew Faust’s recent decision to <a href="http://harvardmagazine.com/2017/06/harvard-president-faust-stepping-down-2018">step down as president of Harvard</a> has inspired much commentary about <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/15/the-biggest-job-education-just-opened-who-running/buz6wZLRSMSk98SPfPI8aK/story.html">who</a> <a href="http://poetsandquants.com/2017/06/14/could-nitin-nohria-become-harvards-next-president/">should be</a> the <a href="https://qz.com/1008395/harvards-new-president-could-be-barack-obama-or-janet-yellen/">next president</a> of the country’s leading university and, therefore, about the nature of the contemporary academic presidency. Has the position changed over the last generation of presidents? How much does an individual president still matter anyway?</p>
<p>As a former university president and student of the presidency, I find these questions fascinating to consider. Given that a high percentage of sitting presidents will be <a href="http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/American-College-President-Study.aspx">retiring in the immediate future</a>, these questions are also important for all of higher education.</p>
<p>Will the next crop of presidents face different pressures and require different skills than was the case for new presidents a decade or two ago?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180609/original/file-20170801-24097-yvk6ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Harvard presidents Larry Summers and Drew Faust, at the latter’s inauguration in 2007. Faust recently announced her resignation, slated for the end of the 2017-2018 academic year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Harvard-President/064aef9e525046228899606c8eb95cea/1/0">AP Photo/Lisa Poole</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The changing presidency</h2>
<p>To some extent, the answer to what kind of president a college or university needs is specific to that institution and that moment in time. In 2007, Drew Faust was the right president for Harvard in part because of the <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2005/1/14/summers-comments-on-women-and-science/">divisive atmosphere</a> created by her predecessor. (Larry Summers drew considerable ire for his remarks about men’s “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/02/18/summers2_18">intrinsic aptitude</a>” in math and science.)</p>
<p>But institution-specific considerations can vary greatly. Some circumstances call for a change agent; others for a stabilizing manager. Sometimes an internally focused academic leader is needed; sometimes an outward-looking spokesperson and fundraiser. Alumni status can be important, as can disciplinary background. The list of possibilities is long. Framing the needed profile is the job of trustees.</p>
<p>Beyond the specific circumstances of individual institutions loom larger questions about academic leadership in general. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2013.749144">scholarly</a> and <a href="http://highered.aspeninstitute.org/future-college-presidency/">professional</a> discussions of the presidency tend to stress the <a href="https://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/industry/public-sector/college-presidency-higher-education-leadership.html">changing nature of the role</a>. One line of argument emphasizes heightened pressures from external factors like constrained public budgets, rising operating costs, increased government regulation and intensified competition from for-profit and online providers.</p>
<p>These considerations lead some to argue that academic institutions today must run <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2004.0022">more like businesses</a> than in the past and that future presidents will need skills in corporate-style strategic planning and management, or in entrepreneurial approaches to program development and in identifying new revenue streams. Alternatively, some argue that intensified economic pressures call for <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/CHNG.41.5.46-54">heightened fundraising skills</a> or, for public sector presidents, sophistication in political advocacy.</p>
<figure class="align-right
">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180605/original/file-20170801-21062-10n1cz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Brademas as majority whip in 1971. He used the political capital he built up as a longtime member of Congress to raise big money after becoming the president of NYU.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Brademas.jpg">Congressional Pictorial Directory, 92nd U.S. Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The changing university</h2>
<p>Another line of discussion stresses the changing nature of the university itself. Colleges and universities, so the argument goes, are becoming more complex, with increasingly diverse constituencies and multiple centers of power. One such center of power is the faculty, whose <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2392088">increased autonomy and expectations of influence</a> can seemingly limit executive action.</p>
<p>In recent years, scholars have described academic institutions as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2391875">loosely coupled systems</a>” or “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2392088">organized anarchies</a>” and have concluded that traditional styles of top-down executive leadership do not work in this context.</p>
<p>An extreme version of this theory can lead to the conclusion that the powers of the presidency have been so diluted as to reduce the role to a merely symbolic one. One empirical study of universities in the United Kingdom found that campus leaders had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9311-0">no measurable impact</a> on the actual performance of their institutions.</p>
<p>Though scholars may speculate on the efficacy of university presidents, presidents themselves tend to stress that decentralization within academic organizations simply changes the requirements for effective leadership.</p>
<p>Such presidents argue that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2017.1286213">the contemporary presidency</a> requires capacities like persuasiveness, listening, consensus building and the creation of coalitions. In short, some feel that political skill should replace managerial acumen in a president’s skill set.</p>
<p>Recent discussions of academic leadership have stressed that such political skills have become even more important in the context of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/education/edlife/student-demands-an-update.html">new wave of student activism</a> and heightened tensions within increasingly diverse campus communities – phenomena made more challenging by the megaphone of social media.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180603/original/file-20170801-22175-1xrulko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University of California president Janet Napolitano faces protesters during an audit of the UC system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/University-of-California-Partying-Regents/efa3b0a8348c494abfbe185397d65c78/8/0">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Presidential leadership is possible</h2>
<p>Notwithstanding these multiple perspectives on the contemporary presidency, a unifying theme emerges: The presidency has become more complex and demanding.</p>
<p>Must we conclude that such complexity renders the role ineffective and therefore (oddly) less important? My own sense, based on 10 years as president of Northeastern, 40 years in academic administration and the study of numerous presidencies, is that significant presidential leadership remains both possible and essential. </p>
<p>First, I believe it’s a massive overstatement to argue that the presidency has been rendered ineffective by decentralized organizational structures and empowered campus constituencies. Presidents can and do lead by convincing key stakeholders whom they cannot directly control to support their goals. They do so by exercising persuasion, moral force and inspiration and by representing the inherent authority of the office. This is hard, but possible.</p>
<p>What’s more, these changes don’t eliminate important powers that remain in the hands of the president. Presidents still control the budget. Presidents establish organizational structures and lines of authority. Presidents appoint the top administrative officials who report directly to them. These are significant levers to shape an organization and direct its development. Using them effectively requires managerial skills like organizational design, team building, priority setting, delegation and supervision. Again, this is difficult, but possible. </p>
<p>Finally, quite apart from the matter of power, the symbolic role of the president remains deeply important. In my view, how faculty and staff feel about their president affects the quality of their work and, therefore, the education of students, just as the leader of any organization or unit of government affects the morale and commitment of members of that community. Moreover, how donors, alumni and legislators feel about the president affects campus finances.</p>
<p>Even if the president did nothing but occupy the office and articulate the value of the institution, the role would matter a lot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Freeland is an executive coach and strategic planning consultant for Maguire Associates. </span></em></p>A former president of Northeastern and scholar of higher education shares his perspectives on what has – and hasn’t – changed in the role of the college president.Richard Freeland, Professor of History and Higher Education, Northeastern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/778512017-05-18T02:51:10Z2017-05-18T02:51:10ZPrograms that prepare students for university study may no longer be free<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169660/original/file-20170517-24333-10jzcka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not everyone is in a position to start university straight away.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time, students may have to pay up to A$3271 for “enabling” courses, designed to prepare students for university study.</p>
<p>The change was announced as part of the government’s recent <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/ed17-0138_-_he_-_glossy_budget_report_acc.pdf">higher education reform package</a>.</p>
<p>Until now, university enabling programs have been subsidised by the government - and are therefore free for students. The new plan to shift the cost onto students will likely deter some students and affect who is able to access higher education. </p>
<h2>What do enabling programs do?</h2>
<p>Not everyone is in a position to start an undergraduate degree directly. Some people need more academic preparation or confidence, including those who may have been out of the education system for several years. Many of these people currently enrol in “enabling” courses.</p>
<p>These preparatory courses typically run for six to 12 months and focus on developing the discipline, knowledge and academic skills required for higher level learning. </p>
<p>The courses are run by universities and give students a sense of campus life and expectations before they commit to a full undergraduate degree with tuition fees. </p>
<p>Enabling courses are a low-cost government investment of $30 million per year, offering people from low socioeconomic and other disadvantaged backgrounds a viable opportunity to qualify and prepare for university.</p>
<p>Courses are not specifically targeted at equity groups, but around <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">50% of students</a> enrolled in enabling courses are from equity groups, including Indigenous students. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">A recent review</a> of enabling programs shows that students from low SES backgrounds have more than twice the rate of representation in enabling courses than they do at undergraduate level.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">national review</a> reports, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>enabling programs transition more equity-group students than the associate degree, advanced diploma, diploma and OUA pathways combined. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Students who transition via an enabling program are, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>more likely to be studying full-time in their subsequent undergraduate degree, compared to those transitioning via a VET program (85.4% compared to 76.3%). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once they are at university, students from low SES backgrounds can receive further support through a different government financial initiative – the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-participation-and-partnerships-programme-heppp">Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program</a> (HEPPP). This is welcome and signals a government commitment to equity. However, more is needed to support access and academic preparation.</p>
<h2>How will funding arrangements change?</h2>
<p>Since 2004, some preparatory enabling programs have been supported through a combination of Commonwealth funded places and a small additional loading. </p>
<p>The arrangement means that students do not pay fees (or incur debt) as long as no other fees are charged by universities themselves. But the proposed changes to enabling funding would change all that.</p>
<p>Under the new proposals, students will pay fees and funding will be insecure, with universities having to bid for their places every three years.</p>
<p>Universities may also need to compete for funding against private providers, some of whom offer similar courses. </p>
<p>Many private providers have no previous experience in teaching students who have faced prior educational challenges. And unlike universities, they have no specific equity mission or community obligations.</p>
<h2>Why will students now have to pay?</h2>
<p>Because enabling programs are free, they attract different student cohorts from diplomas and other (fee paying) sub-degree programs. </p>
<p>Indigenous, mature age, low SES, and students from refugee backgrounds are more likely to enrol in an enabling program than any other <a href="http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=206239542491623;res=IELHSS">sub-degree program</a> . </p>
<p>Apart from improving university access for thousands of under-represented students, enabling programs also deliver effective outcomes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">Research</a> shows that enabling students who transition to undergraduate degrees outperform other equity group students in those degrees, despite a higher average level of disadvantage. </p>
<p>So why cut an inexpensive program that opens doors for under-represented students and effectively prepares them for university success?</p>
<p>Two reasons are provided. The first reason for abolishing fee-free enabling places is to improve completion rates. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-reform-package-0">budget package</a> reports that fee-free Commonwealth funded university programs have completion rates of 52%, while fee-paying university programs, which do not draw on this Commonwealth funding (programs can only charge fees or claim the funding), have completion rates of 61%. </p>
<p>However, this gap is largely because fee-paying programs are typically much smaller and less flexible and accessible. The government data cited does not compare like with like. </p>
<p>The second reason provided for removing fee-free programs is to ensure a better return to students and taxpayers. Again, this is a questionable claim.</p>
<p>The proposed cuts will mean that many students from disadvantaged and low-SES backgrounds, who are <a href="http://www.olt.gov.au/project-enabling-retention-processes-and-strategies-improving-student-retention-university-based-ena">often unsure</a> of whether university study is for them, will likely not enrol in an enabling program. </p>
<p>Fees are often prohibitive for people who have the potential to succeed in higher education, but who suffer social and economic disadvantage. While the budget proposes a broader expansion of sub-degree places, diversity and full community engagement will suffer if fee-free places are abolished.</p>
<h2>Equity, quality and performance-based funding</h2>
<p>The government is also proposing <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-birminghams-performance-funding-plan-wont-improve-australian-universities-77389">performance-based funding measures</a> that may penalise institutions with relatively low retention and completion rates. </p>
<p>That move is understandable but considered <a href="https://theconversation.com/short-sighted-budget-means-universities-cant-deliver-their-full-economic-benefit-77474">problematic</a> and could threaten student equity <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-university-funding-be-tied-to-student-performance-75385">if not managed carefully</a>. </p>
<p>Performance-based funding is partly designed to deter universities from enrolling students at <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atar-debate-students-need-to-be-able-to-finish-uni-not-just-start-it-36478">risk of non-completion</a>. </p>
<p>However, fee-free enabling programs already provide an excellent way to mitigate this risk, by enabling access and improving the preparation of students. These benefits are delivered relatively cheaply under the current enabling loading allocations to universities. </p>
<p>To support equity, quality and long-term budget repair, fee-free enabling places could be expanded rather than abolished.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Bennett works for the University of Newcastle. She receives funding from sources interested in equity in higher education, including from the Department of Education under the National Priorities Pool. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Harvey received funding from the Department of Education for research on enabling programs under the National Priorities Pool. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seamus Fagan receives funding from OLT for a grant</span></em></p>Students on ‘enabling’ courses may now have to pay substantial fees under higher education reforms.Associate Professor Anna Bennett, Senior Lecturer, University of NewcastleAndrew Harvey, Director, Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe UniversitySeamus Fagan, Associate Professor; Director of the Centre for English Language and Foundation Studies, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/769782017-05-02T04:44:29Z2017-05-02T04:44:29ZHigher education reform: small changes for now but big ones to come<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167438/original/file-20170502-17299-wyex8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There could be much bigger changes ahead for universities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The pre-budget announcement of <a href="https://theconversation.com/2017-higher-education-reform-cuts-to-universities-higher-fees-for-students-63185">changes to higher education funding</a> made by Education Minister Simon Birmingham last night includes an increase in student fees of 1.8% per year between 2018 and 2021, totalling a 7.5% increase over all. </p>
<p>This will equate to a rise in fees for Australian undergraduates of $2,000 to $3,600 over the course of their degree. </p>
<p>The repayment threshold for Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) will also be lowered. </p>
<p>These increased fees and faster repayment schedules for students will be accompanied by an “efficiency dividend”, which cuts funding for teaching by about 2.8% in 2018 and 2019 (equivalent to a A$380 million reduction in 2019).</p>
<h2>What does this mean for students?</h2>
<p>For students, this means that they will need to borrow more for an education, and will pay it back sooner. And the education they pay for will be delivered by universities under increased financial stress. </p>
<p>This is straightforward “no winners” austerity politics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/austerity-2893">common now</a> around the developed world.</p>
<p>The way the proposed changes were introduced to the public was particularly interesting, with the government sending out a <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/news/consultation-future-higher-education-reform-cost-of-delivery-report">press package</a> that included a <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/43506">paper by Deloitte</a> on the cost of teaching (very technical reading) as well as a list of vice chancellors’ pay and links to building projects being undertaken by universities. </p>
<p>Clearly the scene was being set for a reduction in funding on the basis that universities are presently overfunded – yet the fee increases and funding reductions revealed later in the day were modest compared to expectations. </p>
<p>Fee increases starting at 25% had <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2017/04/29/federal-budget-to-target-uni-fees.html">been speculated</a> on across the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/budget-to-lift-fees-for-university-students-scrap-funding-cuts/news-story/5725169a6df0dfbe5ed0b699b5408be7">national media</a>, and the proposed 20% cut to funding had been hanging over the sector since 2014.</p>
<h2>What the Deloitte paper reveals</h2>
<p>Analysis of the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/43506">Deloitte paper</a> makes interesting reading. A comparison with the conclusions drawn from it by government is particularly revealing. </p>
<p>For example, the ministerial release asserts that the Deloitte paper shows: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[university] revenue has grown faster than costs – between 2010 and 2015 the average costs of delivery per student have increased by 9.5%, compared to per student funding growth of 15%.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Deloitte, however, specifically cautions that the cost of teaching figures from their earlier 2010 paper and the new 2015 data,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>cannot be compared as direct growth or decline in costs relative to funding over the five years to 2015, given the differences in the sample, and differences in cost collection approaches.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Deloitte also warns: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Similarly, caution should be taken in drawing inferences about the sufficiency of [Commonwealth Grant Scheme] funding directly from these [cost of teaching to funding] ratios.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet the government media release accompanying the report was accompanied by talking points including that universities "have been pocketing taxpayer funds beyond the costs of their operations”.</p>
<p>The difficulty here, as Deloitte notes, is that, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>while not specifically stated in the Higher Education Support Act 2003, there is a general view that CGS funding is intended to cover some level of base research activity (which may be excluded from the definition of teaching and scholarship costs used in this study), and the cost of such research may vary as a proportion of teaching costs.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Impact on research and teaching</h2>
<p>What appears to be happening is that research is being uncoupled from teaching.</p>
<p>At present, universities are legislatively required to undertake research and to offer research higher degrees. </p>
<p>This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/civilisation-as-we-dont-know-it-teaching-only-universities-28505">not the case universally</a>, and is somewhat of an Australian quirk - a legacy of the Dawkins reforms a quarter of a century ago. </p>
<p>The Dawkins reforms transformed 19 universities and 46 colleges, often unwillingly, into 36 public universities. All were required to undertake research, which caused some angst against teacher-practitioners at the time.</p>
<p>Since then, the connection between higher education teaching and active research has become entrenched in Australian ideas of what a university education is. This is despite the heavy reliance of most universities on research-inactive sessional teaching staff for much of their course delivery.</p>
<p>Since Dawkins, the intensity of research activity had been extremely uneven across the sector, and costly for many institutions to maintain.</p>
<p>By uncoupling the funding for staff research time from expectations around what Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding is intended for, the scene has been set for a possible reconfiguration of the sector.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/ed17-0138_-_he_-_glossy_budget_report_acc.pdf">discussion package</a> released is also telling. </p>
<p>The final paragraph of the final page before the concluding section foreshadows the potential for the biggest shift in higher education since Dawkins. Announcing a benign sounding “Review of the Higher Education Provider Category Standards”, the paper says that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The review will include public and stakeholder consultation around options to change provider categories, including the possibility of a teaching-only university category… It is expected that the government will consider the outcome of the review in the 2018–19 Budget context.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So while the changes to fees and funding will be hard on students and universities – more job losses look certain, especially for the many institutions <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/up-to-115-jobs-cut-as-victoria-university-battles-financial-instability-20170310-guvlm6.html">already struggling</a> – the game-changers look set to be deferred until next year’s budget. </p>
<p>Will Dawkins’ large, research-heavy university sector be unpicked? What would teaching-based universities look like? Could the sector manage real institutional differentiation if it was forced to? </p>
<p>And the most important question is what all this might mean for our future students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76978/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmaline Bexley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hidden in the detail of the latest higher education reform package, there are talks of creating teaching-only universities.Emmaline Bexley, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643952016-09-07T09:06:57Z2016-09-07T09:06:57ZWhy unemployed graduates will ignore Zimbabwe’s ban on protests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136059/original/image-20160831-30797-4h8lnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unemployed graduates are among those demanding political change in Zimbabwe.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Zimbabwe is in the throes of a popular revolt. Since May 2016 hundreds of activists – informal traders, unemployed young people and others – have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWgfUAN6TGQ">hit the capital’s streets to protest</a> against President Robert Mugabe’s government, which responded on Friday, September 2 by <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2016/09/02/govt-bans-demos/">banning all demonstrations</a> in the capital, Harare.</p>
<p>The government seems unable to revive the country’s flat-lining economy. Activists’ frustrations stem from the government’s failure to meet people’s basic economic expectations: a labour market that provides jobs, a public workforce that is paid on time, a trustworthy stable currency and an affordable price regime. </p>
<p>Two of the protesting groups involved after the initial <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/this-flag-zimbabwe-evan-mawarire-accidental-movement-for-change">#ThisFlag</a> demonstrations were the Zimbabwe National Students Union and the Zimbabwe Coalition of Unemployed Graduates. There is a long history of student activism in Zimbabwe, but this is the first time that young people who have completed their university education have mobilised as graduates. </p>
<p>On August 3, these young men and women marched into downtown Harare under the banner of <a href="http://nehandaradio.com/2016/08/05/mugabe-faces-rising-tide-protest-zimbabwe/">#ThisGown</a> – a reference to the robes they wear at graduation. </p>
<p>They have good reason to be angry. They are unable to find jobs that match their skills or meet their expectations. The country’s economy is in crisis and their future in doubt. So what difference will their protests make? If it is to secure their expectations for employment, the outlook is grim. </p>
<p>The ruling ZANU(PF) party has failed to create 2.2 million jobs over the past few years as promised in their 2013 election manifesto. Instead, as the economy has deteriorated, employers have been forced to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/zimbabwe-unemployment-151017182157938.html">cut back on staff</a>. This has pushed many graduates from all disciplinary backgrounds into the informal sector where they try to scrape together a living.</p>
<h2>Twin dynamics at play</h2>
<p>There are two other factors driving the protests. Graduates and their families are poorer than their predecessors – and there are many more of them. These realities stem from changes in Zimbabwe’s higher education policy over the past 20 years. Two in particular stand out.</p>
<p>The first is that these graduates, unlike their predecessors, have had to pay for their education. Before sweeping reforms in 1996, all university students received basic state grants. Now they must cover tuition of around USD$500 per semester. They also have to pay for accommodation and living costs. </p>
<p>Secondly, the reforms drove a dramatic expansion of the higher education system, from two universities to 15 with <a href="http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-education-byo-74903.html">still more in the pipeline</a>. This significantly increased the number of graduates entering Zimbabwe’s labour market. The twin dynamics of imposing fees and an ever-increasing supply of graduates in the context of a shrinking economy is central to the current anger. </p>
<p>After decades of a professional labour market that was dominated by the civil service requirement for degrees, Zimbabweans’ strong belief in the value of university dies hard. For many Zimbabweans, it is not education but the government’s mismanagement of the economy and its failure to create labour market demand that’s the problem. </p>
<h2>Zimbabwe’s poor finances</h2>
<p>Since ZANU(PF)‘s 2013 election victory – extending its stay in power to 38 years – ministers have sought financial support from international donors to reboot the economy. </p>
<p>To access this financing, the government in 2015 agreed to pay three of these donors (the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank), its combined arrears of $1.8 billion USD. It has borrowed heavily from the Zimbabwean banking sector to raise this cash. This borrowing, along with the issuing of Treasury Bills, has negatively affected <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2016/06/17/alternative-solutions-liquidity-cash-crisis/">liquidity</a>, or access to cash.</p>
<p>The situation has been particularly acute since the country has been using the US dollar and South African rand since the hyperinflation and economic collapse in 2008. Other events like summer droughts, the devaluation of the rand and highly unpopular import restrictions have exacerbated the economic crisis.</p>
<p>The most significant political effect of this has been on public sector payroll. Salary payments to doctors, teachers, nurses and other civil servants have been delayed. These delays have prompted several “<a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2016/07/06/tension-zim-shutdown-begins/">National Shutdowns</a>”, which have emerged as by far the most effective form of current protest: the shutdowns pressured the government into paying salaries. </p>
<p>ZANU(PF)’s economic mismanagement has given many people, among them unemployed graduates, reason to protest. But will these protests lead politicians to seriously address unemployment?</p>
<h2>Impact of the protests</h2>
<p>Apart from the National Shutdowns, ZANU(PF) politicians have not been bothered by the Harare protests. These urban demonstrations have not touched ZANU (PF)’s traditional strongholds of the rural electorate. Instead, Zimbabwe’s political leaders have been consumed by intense factional infighting over the <a href="http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/02/12/afraf.adv074">political succession</a> to Mugabe, who is 92. This is the real political game that matters. </p>
<p>The protests have, however, been significant for opposition politicians. Initially caught out by them, the leaders of these parties have focused urban mobilisation on key issues such as the need for electoral reform ahead of the 2018 election. They have also accelerated discussions of an oppositional coalition between parties. Is there hope in these political shifts for graduate employment? </p>
<p>It is unclear how Zimbabwe’s politics will unfold ahead of the 2018 election.
The unemployment or underemployment that graduates face is a longer term issue than the current liquidity crisis or political manoeuvrings. Even if the labour market improves, it will not meet the expectations of the increasing numbers of graduates entering it. This is a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28062071">global problem</a> that young people face. </p>
<p>Zimbabwean students’ high social and cultural expectations of their university degree are unlikely to be met in the coming decade. Such hard realities are tough for students to accept passively. It could be a very bumpy ride. </p>
<p><em>Author’s note: My thanks to Phillip Pasirayi for his insights in researching this paper.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Hodgkinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Zimbabwe’s students and graduates are angry. They have every reason to be. The country’s finances are badly managed and its economy is in crisis.Dan Hodgkinson, DPhil Candidate in International Development, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618002016-07-14T20:03:01Z2016-07-14T20:03:01ZFinding ways forward when higher education reform options are limited<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130333/original/image-20160713-12366-awt5nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Both sides of politics agree that student funding rates need reviewing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A federal election is an opportunity to take stock of how Australia is doing, where it’s going, and what governments can do about it. <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/advice-to-government">This series</a>, written by program directors at the Grattan Institute, explores the challenges that Australia faces and advocates policy changes for budgets, economic growth, cities and transport, energy, school education, higher education and health.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>With the Liberals returned to office, their <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/news/consultation-future-higher-education-reform">higher education review process</a> will almost certainly continue. But any hope that the election would smooth the path to higher education reform is now gone. The government has less room to move than before. </p>
<h2>The budget and the parliament limit reform options</h2>
<p>At best, there will be no new public money, just shuffling funds between programs. At worst, as seems more likely, higher education will help reduce the budget deficit.</p>
<p>Politically, the new Senate cross-benchers seem less likely to support difficult decisions than those they replace. </p>
<p>The government needs higher education policy options that do not need parliamentary approval, or which Labor could support over the medium term (we saw in June that Labor’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-two-major-parties-shape-up-on-debate-around-student-loan-reform-60861">pragmatism increases with proximity to government</a>).</p>
<p>In this political environment, the Liberal idea of “flagship” undergraduate courses for which universities could charge more than <a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/student-contribution-amounts#2016">standard student contributions</a> will struggle. </p>
<h2>Both sides of politics agree that student funding rates need reviewing</h2>
<p>But both sides of politics are open to reviewing the standard total per student funding rates – that is, <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/2016_allocation_of_units_of_study_revised_without_ed.pdf">the student contribution plus the Commonwealth contribution</a>. </p>
<p>Current per student funding rates have their origins in a university expenditure study done more than 25 years ago. There is little dispute, in the higher education sector or in politics, that the time to revise has arrived. </p>
<p>To help this process along, the government could require universities to <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/the-cash-nexus-how-teaching-funds-research-in-australian-universities/">report more useful information about how they spend their money</a>. This can be done by ministerial direction. </p>
<p>A good review process will not just consider historical expenditure patterns. The review needs to cost the standards higher education providers must meet. These include <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2015L01639">general government rules</a> applying to all higher education providers, along with <a href="http://www.amc.org.au/">accreditation</a> and <a href="https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/">professional admission</a> requirements affecting particular disciplines.</p>
<h2>Should research be included in student funding rates?</h2>
<p>The biggest policy issue is whether a research component should officially be included in student funding rates. </p>
<p>Profits on teaching are essential to university research output. <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/the-cash-nexus-how-teaching-funds-research-in-australian-universities/">Grattan research published last year</a> found that at least 20% of the money spent on research comes from teaching profits. This conclusion was based on conservative calculations – the true number could easily be higher. </p>
<p>Universities want to increase research output. After a long boom, university research expenditure <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8111.0">stalled at just over $10 billion between 2012 and 2014</a>. Research is shrinking as a share of all university expenditure. <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/staff-data">Research staff</a> and <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/data-used-research-block-grant-rbg-funding-formulae">research publications</a> are both in slight decline. </p>
<p>There are several possible causes for less research activity: slower <a href="http://www.industry.gov.au/innovation/reportsandstudies/Pages/SRIBudget.aspx">growth in government research grants</a> and <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/portfolio-budget-statements-2016-17">a decline in 2015</a>, subdued <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/InternationalStudentData2016.aspx#Pivot_Table">international student numbers from 2010 to 2014</a> reducing teaching profits, and <a href="https://app.heims.education.gov.au/HeimsOnline/IPInfo/Payment/IndexSearch">indexation of university grants</a> not keeping pace with wage increases.</p>
<p>Higher per student funding rates would help universities increase research activity. But this is not necessarily an ideal way to fund research. </p>
<p>Other government research funding is <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/research-block-grants-calculation-methodology">based on research performance</a>, not on student numbers. The universities that enrol the most students aren’t necessarily the best at research.</p>
<p>If research activity benefited teaching, that might be another reason to fund research via student numbers. But <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/report/taking-university-teaching-seriously/">the empirical evidence on this teaching-research nexus is inconclusive</a>. It’s not a strong enough basis for major public or student investment.</p>
<h2>Caution is needed on teaching-only student funding rates</h2>
<p>Although we lack a clear case for extending research funding via per student grants, we should be cautious about entirely separating existing teaching and research funding. </p>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2015-staff-data">32,000 academics were employed as teachers and researchers</a>. Financially supporting these joint-function roles requires some alignment of teaching and research funding sources. </p>
<p>Even if academic work should become more specialised into teaching or research, this can only feasibly happen over time. It would be reckless to do it via a quick policy change.</p>
<p>In the medium term at least, we will need some allowance for research in new per university student funding rates. This would not prevent a lower teaching-only rate in higher education providers that don’t do research, as proposed by the Liberals in 2014 and more recently by Labor for their election-promise <a href="http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/commonwealth_institutes_for_higher_education_fact_sheet">Commonwealth higher education institutes.</a></p>
<h2>A funding review is a way forward when options are limited</h2>
<p>A review of per student funding rates won’t settle disagreement over the mix of public and private funding. But a review is something both major political parties can agree on to clarify the debate: we will know how much we need to spend to get a good higher education system. It is a way forward when options seem limited.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61800/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and Grattan uses the income to pursue its activities.</span></em></p>At best, there will be no new public money, just shuffling funds between programs. At worst, higher education will help reduce the budget deficit.Andrew Norton, Program Director, Higher Education, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/616982016-06-28T10:48:17Z2016-06-28T10:48:17ZBrexit: the aftermath for universities and students<p>The UK’s vote to leave the European Union has been met with shock and apprehension by universities, academics and students across the country. University leaders became increasingly worried about the possibility of a Brexit as the poll neared, with three vice-chancellors giving their reasons to remain <a href="http://theconversation.com/insularity-is-not-the-way-forward-three-university-vice-chancellors-on-brexit-60660">here on The Conversation</a>. But now, with the result in and Britain destined to leave, what kind of future beckons for Britain’s universities?</p>
<h2>Research funding</h2>
<p>As a full member of the union, for the moment Britain still enjoys membership of the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.htm">European Research Area</a>, the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/">Horizon 2020</a> research funding programme and a range of other research partnerships and initiatives. With the vote for Brexit, these relationships will – at some point in the future – cease. Some may be reconstituted, but it is hard to believe this will happen on the same preferential terms <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/25/europe-prepares-fast-and-painful-deal-for-britain/">given widespread reluctance</a> among EU leaders (fearful of further secessions) to be seen to be giving Britain a good deal.</p>
<p>It is true that Horizon 2020 is open to non-EU members – for example it <a href="http://www.iserd.org.il/?CategoryID=179">includes Israel</a>, which has a <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm?lg=en&pg=israel">long history</a> of collaboration with EU research. But access to these programmes is often highly political and in my opinion, it is difficult to envisage the UK – a much bigger higher education system than Israel’s, for example – being able to access the programme on the same terms currently offered to non-EU members. This is particularly the case, given the Leave lobby’s opposition to free movement to the UK, an issue which has restricted Switzerland’s associate membership of Horizon but which is not relevant to other members such as Israel or Armenia.</p>
<p>Current associate members of Horizon such as Serbia, Montenegro and Albania are working towards EU membership, while Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), which allows free movement of people. While some Vote Leave leaders <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/06/tory-brexiter-daniel-hannan-leave-campaign-never-promised-radical-decline">have been quick to say that free movement wouldn’t be restricted post-Brexit</a>, it is highly questionable whether Britain will be allowed access to the EEA, or whether the British public could be convinced of this option – given that this would be unlikely to reduce immigration.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128311/original/image-20160627-28388-1hd3fvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing times for research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suwit Ngaokaew/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>None of the Horizon associate members remotely compare in scale to the UK’s research power. The former EU Commission president Juan Manuel Barroso <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/brexit-the-perks-and-pitfalls-for-higher-education">remarked in 2015</a> that the UK is receiving more than what its economic or demographic dimension would entitle it to receive in terms of EU research funding. In 2014-15, <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/economic-impact-of-eu-research-funding-in-uk-universities.pdf">according to Universities UK</a>, universities attracted more than £836m in research grants and contracts from the EU. It would appear unlikely that the UK could continue to punch above its weight in these terms once it is outside the union.</p>
<p>There is no guarantee, as <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/eu-referendum-result-uk-universities-brexit-remain-leave-student-higher-education-sector-a7101846.html">some have argued</a>, that the government will make up any future shortfall in research funding. Higher education does not exist in a vacuum and the long-term economic prospects of the UK are now in serious question. </p>
<h2>Student experience and teaching</h2>
<p>The future of the ERASMUS student exchange scheme, <a href="http://theconversation.com/insularity-is-not-the-way-forward-three-university-vice-chancellors-on-brexit-60660">from which 200,000 UK students have benefited</a>, is uncertain as far as British students are concerned. It is also perhaps inevitable that the UK – having rejected the European Union in a bitter campaign marked by significant anti-immigrant rhetoric – should become a less appealing destination for EU students, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/22/whats-stake-higher-ed-brexit-vote">who currently make up 5% of students at UK universities</a>. </p>
<p>More than this, the funding settlement whereby EU undergraduates pay fees at the home rate of £9,000 a year (and are able to access the same preferential loans as UK students, albeit with a new residency requirement for maintenance loans from this August) will end at some point. This may possibly be as early as 2017-2018, although the <a href="http://www.slc.co.uk/media/latest-news/eu-nationals-and-student-finance-in-england.aspx">Student Loans Company moved</a> quickly to note that the financial settlement will remain unchanged for existing students and current applicants. </p>
<p>This follows moves by individual institutions, such as UCL, to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/eu-referendum-result-brexit-leave-remain-higher-education-sector-students-a7100106.html">guarantee</a> current EU students’ fee rates. There is no certainty that a parallel settlement comparable to the original one will be put in place.</p>
<p>Taken together, this will pose challenges to universities with high EU student intakes, as well as <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/unlimited-student-recruitment-transforms-english-universities">those that had been hoping to</a> increase EU student intake now that controls on student numbers have been lifted. </p>
<p>Students’ teaching may also be affected. It is highly likely that a proportion of EU academics <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brain-drain-brexit-universities-science-academics-referendum-eu-a7100266.html">will choose to leave</a> UK higher education and return to their countries of origin, or move to other EU states. Of academics working in British universities, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/22/whats-stake-higher-ed-brexit-vote">15% originate</a> from other EU member states. </p>
<p>A number have issued <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/series/academics-anonymous">prominent statements</a> that they are now considering leaving the UK given pervasive anti-immigrant rhetoric. European universities will also make job offers <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSav47032563/status/746263548775534592">to “star”</a> British names potentially uncomfortable with the outcome of the referendum. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"746263548775534592"}"></div></p>
<h2>Higher education reform</h2>
<p>There may be some cause for optimism, however, for those opposed to the government’s ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-competitive-landscape-for-higher-education-confirmed-in-white-paper-59494">higher education reforms</a>. It is likely that they will, at least temporarily, be derailed. Though the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/higher-education-and-research-bill">Higher Education Bill</a> is already before the House of Commons, the executive was woefully unprepared for a leave vote in the referendum. </p>
<p>Civil servants in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and beyond will have bigger fish to fry over the next two years than developing the new <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF), implementing the new governance arrangements or completing the transition to a marketised system. The University of Warwick’s vice-chancellor Stuart Croft has <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/vco/blog/">called for the higher education reforms to be postponed</a>. Governmental overload, or its very collapse, may ensure that’s exactly what happens. </p>
<p>Britain is in the middle of an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Universities matter to government and are a real factor, in government-speak, of achieving “success in a knowledge economy”. But they are not more important than trade or inward investment, securing export markets, or preventing the collapse of the territorial integrity of the union. In short, higher education will have to wait in (a very long) line.</p>
<p>The task before Britain’s university system is to secure its position in the global higher education sector even as the status and economic firepower of the host nation state diminishes, or – in the event of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/scottish-independence-back-in-play-after-brexit-shock-with-a-note-of-caution-61457">independent Scotland </a>– simply falls apart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Finn is a member of the Labour Party, the Co-Operative Party and Universities and Colleges Union.</span></em></p>What leaving the EU means for research, student experience and higher education reforms.Mike Finn, Principal Teaching Fellow, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/614352016-06-23T04:44:47Z2016-06-23T04:44:47ZReport urges India to allow overseas universities to open up campuses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127856/original/image-20160623-30272-1gt7afh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">India is being urged to reverse a policy that doesn't allow foreign universities to open up a campus.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year, the Indian government <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/former-cab-secy-to-head-panel-to-draft-new-education-policy/">called for a review</a> into how to best reform its education system. The findings and recommendations <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Education/UtNYdM0Ng8EZSFGa5l1cXP/10-recommendations-of-Subramanian-Committee-on-new-education.html">reported in the media this week</a> reflect the momentum building in India for change in the sector. </p>
<p>The report addresses a longstanding civil society concern within India to raise the percentage of GDP per capita spent on education. The proposal is to raise it from the current level of about 4% to something closer to the worldwide standard of 6%.</p>
<p>It calls for reforms to teacher education, suggesting mandatory certification of teacher qualifications for both public and private schools. It further recommends regulatory changes that would allow greater financial autonomy for top universities in India and improved research funding. </p>
<p>It also recommends extending the successful “Midday Meals Programme” , which gives primary school children lunchtime meals free of charge in school, to secondary students. </p>
<h2>Setting up roots in India</h2>
<p>The report also put forward the idea that the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank_label/sort_order/asc/cols/rank_only">world’s top 200 universities</a> should be given permission to open campuses in India, reversing a previous policy of not allowing them entry.</p>
<p>This recommendation reflects a longstanding interest among Indian policymakers in creating greater competition within India’s university sector. It also serves to meet surging domestic demand for high quality international education.</p>
<p>It is a recommendation, too, that responds to the interests of many foreign higher education providers. </p>
<p>The report should please Australian universities, particularly our <a href="https://go8.edu.au/">Group of Eight</a>. This group represents Australia’s elite universities, ll of which are in the top 200 of global university rankings.</p>
<p>Opening campuses in India not only provides opportunities for Australian universities to raise revenue through improved access to the growing market for international education in India. It also allows them to deepen their engagement with India in terms of learning, teaching and research. And it facilitates cultural exchange between Australia and India.</p>
<h2>The challenges</h2>
<p>Challenges remain for Australian universities to engage more fully in India. Most notably, India has no national system for course accreditation and qualification recognition. This makes it difficult for Australian universities to assess students’ prior learning when making decisions about degree entry requirements. </p>
<p>It’s also worth noting that this is not the first time that the Indian government has been advised to permit foreign universities to open campuses on the subcontinent. Such legislation has been repeatedly stalled since it was first proposed in 2010. This has created uncertainty for Australian universities, making them more hesitant to engage with India. </p>
<p>Within the next five years, it may be possible for some universities to open campuses in India. </p>
<p>Australian universities already have substantive involvement with India. For example, the University of Melbourne, Deakin, RMIT and Monash University have been collaborating extensively with some of India’s most prestigious centres of learning and research. This includes efforts to facilitate increasing student exchanges, develop joint degree programs and foster long-term research collaborations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trent Brown works as a research assistant at the Australia India Institute which receives funding from The Commonwealth Government of Australia, Victorian Government, University of Melbourne and other private sources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Jeffrey is Director of the Australia India Institute which receives funding from The Commonwealth Government of Australia, Victorian Government, University of Melbourne and other private sources.</span></em></p>A new report offers recommendations for how to best reform the education system in India.Trent Brown, Research Assistant, Australia India Institute, The University of MelbourneCraig Jeffrey, Director and CEO of the Australia India Institute; professor of development geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/594942016-05-17T10:27:17Z2016-05-17T10:27:17ZNew competitive landscape for higher education confirmed in white paper<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122823/original/image-20160517-9501-12b9yet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nottinghamtrentuni/5689846734/sizes/o/">Nottingham Trent University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government has published detail of sweeping changes to the architecture of higher education and research in the UK in a new white paper. The document, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523396/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy.pdf">Succeeding as a Knowledge Economy</a>, takes forward most of the ideas already found in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/higher-education-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice">green paper</a> published in November 2015. Legislation is likely to follow to enact a number of the proposed changes, not least to the regulatory oversight of the sector.</p>
<p>Plans for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF), which will reward universities for good teaching with the ability to raise tuition fees above £9,000 a year, have now been slightly rejigged. More time will be allowed to fine tune how it will work and there will be a trial year in 2017-18. </p>
<p>There will be a simpler link permitting tuition fee rises in line with the retail price index for those universities doing well in the first parts of the scheme. This will extend gradually over a number of higher levels – rated “meets expectations, excellent and outstanding” – but the main incentive for universities to get a better rating will be to gain a reputational advantage, rather than a financial one. </p>
<h2>Out with the old?</h2>
<p>If there is anything resembling a new policy in the white paper (at least in comparison with the green paper) it is the invitation to both old and new institutions to choose their operating model and forms of government support. They may decide to become a private company, some form of corporation, or maybe simply renounce charitable status. This raises possibilities about mergers across the so-called dividing line between the two categories of “existing” and “alternative providers”. </p>
<p>The government clearly believes in and welcomes the possibility that some of the new upstarts will seek to take over or at least merge with those established providers that begin to wilt in the new competitive environment. </p>
<p>The white paper regards “exits” by incumbents from the sector as a healthy outcome in markets reflecting informed consumer choice. But it’s possible that some elite research universities might also look at this proposition and wonder if the best route to raise their undergraduate fee levels above the price of inflation is to go properly private – rather than rely on the small incremental moves permitted as part of the TEF. </p>
<h2>Future of the dual-funding system</h2>
<p>Although the green paper was relatively light on research policy, it did raise important questions, particularly on how research would be funded in the future. A key question was the future of the dual-funding system of research, through which grants are made to scholars by the research councils on the one hand, with additional government funding allocated to universities by the <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/">Higher Education Council for England</a> (HEFCE) following an assessment of the quality of their research – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/research-excellence-framework">Research Excellence Framework</a> process. </p>
<p>The white paper confirmed that HEFCE will be abolished – and a new unified entity, UK Research and Innovation, is to be established. This followed recommendations <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-funding-big-changes-on-the-horizon-leave-scientists-nervous-51057">made in a review of research</a> by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nurse-review-of-research-councils-recommendations">Paul Nurse</a> that the seven research councils be amalgamated. It is this body that will take over HEFCE’s research funding responsibilities.</p>
<p>This is a little strange. Although the government professes to be strengthening the dual support system for research, rolling it all into one body nonetheless continues the questions about dual funding’s longer-term future.</p>
<p>UK Research and Innovation will also have to consider other important matters once it gets going, not just the future of the dual support system. For example, whether charities and private bodies will become eligible for public research funds as part of the government’s intention in the white paper to create incentives for multidisciplinary work and commercial collaboration. It’s possible this may have a knock-on effect on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-impact-on-the-ref-35636">“impact” of research</a>, making definitions less academic and more related to “real world” applications.</p>
<h2>Easier entry for newcomers</h2>
<p>As expected, new or alternative providers should find life a little easier. They will be allowed probationary degree-awarding powers from the get go, as opposed to the current wait of up to six years for full powers. Or, at least, “high quality” organisations will – however that is later defined. Smaller specialist institutions will have more incentive to consider aiming for university designation now that institutions no longer have to reach a fixed number of students to be considered.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Battle for better teaching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ioelondon/6143379343/sizes/l">UCL IOE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether the possibility of gaining “degree powers light” will help unfreeze the current icy path to validation experienced by new entrants remains to be seen. At the moment, existing universities understandably regard new providers as fresh competition, and so partnerships between old and new are designated as risky forms of collaboration by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.</p>
<p>Injecting more market competition into the sector could actually make the chill much worse as new entrants are now fully incentivised to become “challenger” institutions.</p>
<p>Although evidence is needed, new providers, because of resources and status constraints, can be quite conservative in their teaching approaches and to the subjects offered – despite the white paper’s claim that they provide much needed “innovation”. Yet, speaking from my experience as the chair of governors of a new provider, they do appear to reach aspirant sections of the population that do not make it to the existing “old” institutions. So access and social mobility should be enhanced by these moves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59494/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger King is chair of governors of UKCBC, a private new HE college, and is a member of the Higher Education Commission.</span></em></p>Universities deemed excellent at teaching will be allowed to raise their fees in line with inflation.Roger King, Visiting Professor, School of Management, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/530082016-01-13T09:44:09Z2016-01-13T09:44:09ZMixed market messages: the cost of reforming British universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107884/original/image-20160112-7002-3rklz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reforms to universities are a contradiction in terms. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lecture via Matej Kastelic/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One thing is clear about the government’s recent proposals to reform higher education: they will shape and sculpt the UK’s higher education system for the foreseeable future – but at what cost?</p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474227/BIS-15-623-fulfilling-our-potential-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice.pdf">Fulfilling our Potential</a> green paper, published in November, the government set out how it wants to both control the price of higher education, through tuition fees, and determine the quality of teaching through a proposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF), which plans to reward universities with the best quality teaching. The overall objective is to improve the quality of teaching in universities, as well as the esteem associated with teaching, and enhance social mobility.</p>
<p>These are laudable and valuable objectives, but the government’s strategy for achieving them is riven with contradictions. </p>
<p>Imagine a world where you wanted to buy a shirt. Now imagine that the government has set a maximum price for all shirts of £25, regardless of colour, size, shape or quality – from Prada to Primark, from Spandex to silk. All shops are selling all shirts at the same price. Now imagine that the government decides to introduce a way to measure the quality of shirts, even though they all cost £25.</p>
<p>Now substitute your shirt for higher education and the cap on tuition fees and we begin to see the inherent contradiction at the heart of the proposed reforms. The government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474227/BIS-15-623-fulfilling-our-potential-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice.pdf">has stated</a> a commitment to “an open, market-based and affordable system with more competition and innovation”. If the government believes that higher education should be “market-based” then the logical place to start is by removing the cap on student fees. </p>
<h2>Unmaking a market</h2>
<p>The market will, in time, adjust – universities providing higher quality education will charge more, and low-quality providers less – just as happens with shirts in real life. This is basic market economics.</p>
<p>Yet, if the government doesn’t believe in this approach, then the logical step is to lower the cap on student fees and for the state to take on a greater burden for the cost of higher education. Here – as the main “customer” – the government would be in its rights to regulate and influence the market to ensure it is getting high-quality provision on behalf of taxpayers.</p>
<p>As things stand, the government is committed to an open market but is simultaneously and unusually, compared to other sectors, trying to regulate both price and quality. </p>
<p>An analogous sector might be energy where there is also a strong public good argument that we need electricity, just as we need a trained work force. But even here, the regulator Ofgem, <a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/domestic-consumers/how-ofgem-works-you">explicitly states</a> that it “does not regulate energy retail prices” and that its role is to “promote competition”, which they believe “acts as an effective mechanism to drive down prices and promote higher quality service”.</p>
<h2>Other ways to advance social mobility</h2>
<p>The capping of tuition fees is part of the desire to keep UK higher education affordable in order to enhance social mobility <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474266/BIS-15-623-fulfilling-our-potential-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice-accessible.pdf">by pushing for</a> “better access, retention and progression for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups”. </p>
<p>This is a key initiative and should be applauded. But there is no need to achieve this through the fees cap – it could be achieved equally and effectively in other ways. For example, in a truly market-based higher education sector, universities could be forced to establish scholarships and other social mobility funds – perhaps through a tax on revenues – to help meet this aim.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107885/original/image-20160112-6996-1v7ul70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Choosing a university is not like buying a t-shirt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">keantian/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There also seems to be an assumption at the heart of the proposals that the real customers of higher education – 17-year-olds (and their parents) – are unable to identify quality and that the information to support their decision-making is not available. The solution currently being proposed is for the government to provide a kite mark of quality and then “permit” universities to charge a little bit more (<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/osborne-signals-rise-9k-fee-cap-tef">in line with inflation</a>) if they meet the government’s quality threshold. </p>
<p>Yet, the proposal does not take into account the mass of information available to make such decisions – for example, various <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/universityguide">“good university guides”</a> published by national newspapers and, increasingly, apps that allow students to provide immediate feedback on lectures. There is no guarantee that better information will be provided in the future than is already available.</p>
<h2>Some universities may go private</h2>
<p>The consequences, intended or unintended, are that the government is trying to retain influence and control over the higher education market while simultaneously demanding that it is an open market with light touch regulation. </p>
<p>For institutions in that market, this is an unattractive and unappealing position to be in. Doubtless some – perhaps many – universities will begin to wonder what advantage they derive from staying in that market, particularly those institutions with excellent teaching and research. The obvious choice for these institutions is to decide to opt-out of the system and go private, allowing them to set their own standards and their own fees, beyond just the rate of inflation.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this will leave us with a two-tier sector and although we do not know precisely what this would look like, it is likely to take us away from the laudable objectives of the proposed reforms. If that is the case, it will come at a great financial and reputational cost to UK higher education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Grant has received funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and others funders for research into higher education and science policy. </span></em></p>New proposals on the table for higher education are riven with contradictions.Jonathan Grant, Director, The Policy Institute and Professor of Public Policy, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/511632015-11-30T04:34:44Z2015-11-30T04:34:44ZHow academic staff development can contribute to changing universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103050/original/image-20151124-18227-w2r54f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tertiary institutions in South Africa, like the University of Cape Town (pictured here), are in a state of flux and change.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It seems almost certain that South Africa’s universities cannot return to “business as usual” after the student protests that marked 2015. Some <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-protests-it-cant-be-business-as-usual-at-south-africas-universities-50548">have asked</a> what academics will learn from the protests and how they will - or won’t - alter their practice in classrooms.</p>
<p>Another question arises: how do those tasked with the role of being academic staff developers work in productive ways with university teachers to decolonise institutional cultures? This includes the knowledge drawn on in curricula and the ways in which teaching and student assessment happens.</p>
<p>Historically, the project of academic development in South Africa has been to contribute to social justice . It has been successful in some contexts, <a href="http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/Sun-e-Shop/tabid/78/ProductId/313/Default.aspx">significantly shifting</a> aspects of teaching and learning. But it has clearly not led to the large scale change that was envisioned in policy documents developed in the years immediately after apartheid ended. </p>
<p>This moment in the country’s higher education history offers an important opportunity for both academics and academic developers to rethink how they understand the purposes of a university and how, as a sector, they go about their business</p>
<h2>Tough questions</h2>
<p>Students and academics at the forefront of the movement to decolonise South African universities have drawn attention to structural and cultural factors the continue to exclude the majority from the knowledge project. There is a need for greater recognition of the fact that teaching and learning is not just about knowledge. In essence, it’s an ontological project too - it’s about an entire way of being. These are inextricably linked because of the country’s long history of social and economic exclusion.</p>
<p>It’s against this backdrop that academic developers need to reconceptualise how they work with academic staff. For instance, they could encourage and help academics to create spaces for genuine and critical dialogue with students about knowledge, course design, teaching methods, assessment and ways of engaging with students. In many institutions there is an existing culture of eliciting feedback from students on teaching and courses. However, this often amounts to ‘student satisfaction’ surveys which don’t ask the important questions or encourage dialogue.</p>
<p>There is a tricky line to walk. Academic developers must respect individuals’ disciplinary expertise, but still ask searching questions about the kind of knowledge they are imparting. They could ask academics to consider the following: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Why do you only draw knowledge from Europe, the USA, the Western world or the Global North? </p></li>
<li><p>Can you use examples of how this knowledge is used in Africa? </p></li>
<li><p>How is this knowledge linked to the histories of different students in your class? How does it validate their lives? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Academics should be encouraged to engage with critiques of their disciplines and heed philosopher Achille Mbembe’s <a href="http://wiser.wits.ac.za/system/files/Achille%20Mbembe%20-%20Decolonizing%20Knowledge%20and%20the%20Question%20of%20the%20Archive.pdf">warning</a> about the dangers of drawing only from the traditional canon, which consists mainly of the knowledge of the powerful.</p>
<p>If academic developers are serious about contributing meaningfully to South Africa’s “decolonising turn” they have to be prepared to engage in courageous conversations. These might challenge academics’ deeply held beliefs and their strong disciplinary identities. They might also lead to an environment in which students are heard, listened to, understood and can thrive. This creates the space for students regardless of background or history to - in Mbembe’s words - say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is my home. I am not an outsider here. I do not have to beg or to apologise to be here. I belong here.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Exploring their own role</h2>
<p>Academic developers need to ask themselves whether they have been sufficiently critical of their own practices. Have they paid sufficient attention to what it feels like to be the only or one of a few black lecturers in a department? Have they asked questions about why young black lecturers <a href="http://www.universitiessa.ac.za/sites/www.universitiessa.ac.za/files/2011-%20HESA%20Building%20the%20Next%20Generation%20of%20Academics_0.pdf">leave institutions</a>? Have they created a sufficiently safe yet challenging space for the lecturers with whom they work? </p>
<p>They, too, need to move away from only drawing on theorists mainly from the UK and Australasia. Now is the time for them to do much more research that results in theories and concepts which are applicable to Africa’s academic staff development needs.</p>
<p>As the field has strengthened in some contexts, so some academic developers have come to occupy powerful roles. Some are deans and deputy vice-chancellors in their institutions. These key agents are now in a position to influence their colleagues not to just accept the status quo but to interrogate issues related to institutional identity and resistance to change. They are also in a position to ask critical questions about structures like teaching and learning centres. They can question who the academic developers are and whether they are responding appropriately to the changed context since the student protests in 2015.</p>
<h2>No more business as usual</h2>
<p>Academic developers must acknowledge to themselves and convince the academics with whom they work that education is never neutral. It is always underpinned by a political agenda. It can’t be business as usual. All those involved in higher education need to urgently consider the implications of a rapidly shifting political agenda. They need to apply their minds collectively and individually to what it means to ‘decolonise’ higher education in general and in specific disciplines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s universities are in a state of upheaval. Academic developers must rethink their own purpose and how they work with academics in this environment to foster positive change.Jo-Anne Vorster, Senior lecturer, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, Rhodes UniversityLynn Quinn, Associate Professor of Higher Education Studies. Head of Department of the Centre for Higher Education, Research, Teaching and Learning, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/506042015-11-19T04:24:30Z2015-11-19T04:24:30ZStudent protests in South Africa have pitted reform against revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102046/original/image-20151116-4976-dje6sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most student protests in South Africa during 2015 have been peaceful and organised, but there have been moments of violent confrontation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Sydney Seshibedi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than two decades, any dialogue about change and decolonisation at South Africa’s universities has been smothered. Conservative institutional practices have remained entrenched. It is undoubtedly important that institutions be preserved. But they must also recognise when it’s necessary to move with the times.</p>
<p>The wave of student protests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/feesmustfall">rocked the country</a> in October and November 2015 offers such a moment for change. The protesters threw up a dual narrative: reform on the one hand, and revolution on the other.</p>
<p>Which narrative will triumph? Will universities reform? Or will they become a site of revolution in 2016 and beyond?</p>
<h2>Students feel excluded</h2>
<p>Since 1994, there has been only a slow and basic conformity with <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-affirmative-action">affirmative action</a> requirements. Universities have registered more students of different races. They’ve hired <a href="http://africacheck.org/reports/how-many-professors-are-there-in-sa/">a smattering</a> of black, coloured and Indian academic and administrative staff. But in reality, universities haven’t changed much at all. </p>
<p>Language policies still marginalise students who don’t speak English as a first language. Campuses are multiracial, but classrooms and curricula remain largely dedicated to one way of seeing the world - through a lens of Eurocentric <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-take-the-curriculum-back-from-dead-white-men-40268">cultural domination</a> and globalisation. This has contributed to alienating African students from their own academic spaces.</p>
<p>These perceived exclusive institutions have prompted many South African students to say that they don’t feel at home on their campuses. They have taken to reading authors like <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/aim%C3%A9-c%C3%A9saire">Aimé Césaire</a> along with philosophers such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-fanon-continues-to-resonate-more-than-half-a-century-after-algerias-independence-43508">Frantz Fanon</a> and Jean-Paul Sartre to find solace while trapped in the claustrophobic presence of colonial oppressors like <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32236922">Cecil John Rhodes</a>. </p>
<p>They are looking beyond the issue that triggered the 2015 protests – student fees – to the future of African education. To some, a revolution may be construed as the only viable vehicle to reach that future. They view the system as so defunct that it must be torn down with their own hands.</p>
<h2>Rapid reform or violent revolution?</h2>
<p>It is this view that altered the nature of the student protests. They were, in October, largely organised and peaceful events. By early November calm had returned to some campuses. But others, like the universities of Johannesburg and the Western Cape, the Tshwane University of Technology and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, erupted into mayhem. This happened after President Jacob Zuma had already declared a 0% fee rise for 2016.</p>
<p>The University of the Western Cape’s vice chancellor, Tyrone Pretorius, had to dodge a bottle hurled at him on campus while addressing angry students about their memorandum of demands. This was met by cheers from the <a href="http://pasma.blogspot.co.za/">Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania</a>, who were in attendance with the protesters. </p>
<p>The crowd also chanted expletives at the institution’s Student Representative Council. On many campuses student representative councils have been accused by the civic movements of being co-opted by university hierarchies, gaining the tag of “sellouts”. </p>
<p>Instances such as these suggest that compromise and conciliation are not on the agenda. </p>
<p>This highlights the potential of a dual narrative contained within the 2015 protests suggested earlier. Do these students only form a small vandal and criminal aspect within a constitutional movement, or is there a robust portion of the mass movement that harbours revolutionary attitudes?</p>
<h2>Where revolutions begin</h2>
<p>Revolutions, understood historically and theoretically, constitute a complete destruction of the political and socioeconomic status quo. They are a response to systematic political and economic exclusion, and manifest as either struggles for independence or to fundamentally change a system of governance. For the majority of the 20th Century revolutions resulted in the decimation of fascism, autocracy and Soviet communism as alternatives to now popular multiparty democratic systems.</p>
<p>South Africa after apartheid is a country built on revolutionary foundations that most will contend were democratic. Others might say that South Africa’s liberation movement also carried a – later suppressed – propensity for socialist reconfiguration. This stems from liberation era rhetoric which called for all people to share in the wealth of the country. </p>
<p>One aspect from the student protests that cannot be ignored is the deep distrust shown by students towards the police and other state security services. The police service’s penchant for brutality during the 2012 Marikana massacre and officers’ seemingly unprovoked attacks on some student gatherings has heightened these feelings of fear and distrust. </p>
<p>If protesters start to view the state authorities as hostile guardians of a deeply corrupt government and economy, the consequences may be fatal for South African democracy.</p>
<p>It cuts both ways. In Reflections on Violence, political theorist Hannah Arendt argues that <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_VM7xoPW6PsC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=hannah+arendt+reflections+on+violence&ots=l3muFMoRGJ&sig=53T5lxU278yRxuTo1qoCQccdsmY#v=onepage&q=hannah%20arendt%20reflections%20on%20violence&f=false">violence and power</a> do not necessarily tie perfectly together. Physical coercion by the state is traditionally understood as a means to enforce the law and the regime’s perceived legitimate power. But in many instances the use of violence against the state’s citizens must be condemned, especially when used gratuitously in a democratic dispensation. </p>
<p>Protest movements should also understand that a turn to violence by their members could severely deplete the ethical high ground they hold at the foundation of a legitimate struggle for social justice. </p>
<h2>Space for Constitutionalism?</h2>
<p>Constitutional democratic protest is, in theory, calm, rational and inclusive. It purports that the present system is not constitutional and so must be reformed as swiftly as possible. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-legacy-of-south-africas-freedom-charter-60-years-later-43647">Freedom Charter</a> of 1955 stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The doors to learning and culture shall be opened to all.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the 1996 Constitution, this statement was reinterpreted to guarantee that all people will have access to quality education. Most in South Africa, particularly the poor and marginalised, are still waiting for the reforms that will include them in this promise. </p>
<p>Conversely, aspiring revolutionaries within the student movements who feel they have suffered the limits of exclusion by an inadequate democratic project may rally others toward violent upheaval as a means to finally be heard. The revolutionary faction may also want to throw out the Constitution along with the perceived colonised institutions that shackle their growth. </p>
<p>If student and other protests take a further unconstitutional turn, those citizens who still believe in realising the Freedom Charter may well be pushed to the side.</p>
<p>Only time will reveal whether new South African civic movements for social justice will achieve their objectives within constitutional bounds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giovanni Poggi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two narratives have emerged from student protests in South Africa: reform on the one hand - and revolution on the other. Which narrative will triumph?Giovanni Poggi, Lecturer in Political Science, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/505482015-11-18T04:30:12Z2015-11-18T04:30:12ZAfter protests, it can’t be business as usual at South Africa’s universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101684/original/image-20151112-9381-pfqxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Things can't just carry on as 'normal' now that university students in South Africa have demanded massive systemic change.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shiraaz Mohamed/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s higher education ministry issued a <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/summit/Summit%20Themes.html">“call to action”</a> in October 2015 for real change in the sector. It wants universities to become more democratic spaces whose staff and student bodies represent the country’s racial and gender diversity. It wants an end to colonial approaches to teaching and learning.</p>
<p>But students are not prepared to wait until others in the sector are ready to change. Throughout 2015, they have issued <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/feesmustfall">their own</a> calls to action.</p>
<p>It is underscored, they say, by the many forms of “violence” they experience daily on campuses and in society. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The <a href="http://groundup.org.za/article/uct-and-transformation-part-one_2820">symbolic violence</a> of oppressive signs, symbols and artwork that adorn academic and social spaces. </p></li>
<li><p>The violence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-take-the-curriculum-back-from-dead-white-men-40268">highly contested curricula</a> coupled with their disempowering teaching methods.</p></li>
<li><p>The tangible violence of inequality and poverty experienced by the masses in South African society during their daily grind.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The students’ movement has stretched South Africans in personal, professional, powerful and provocative ways. What remains to be seen is whether academics have been stretched enough to reflect deeply on the status quo at universities – and to respond with equal vigour.</p>
<h2>What is ‘normal’?</h2>
<p>Students have disrupted normativity in higher education by challenging the way that educators, researchers and university managers embody and enact academic worlds. In disrupting what is considered “normal”, students force the sector to focus sharply on the question: normal for whom?</p>
<p>Daily, students experience alienation, knowledge and cultural blocks and social exclusion as “normal” ways of being at university. This is despite classrooms being technically multicultural and diverse – student numbers reflect the country’s <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/DHET%20Statistics%20Publication/Statistics%20on%20Post-School%20Education%20and%20Training%20in%20South%20Africa%202012.pdf">demographics</a> far better than they ever have before.</p>
<p>The disruption of normality in 2015 has brought discomfort, as it always does. The very essence of humans’ existence and survival as a species, group, race, class, gender and sector is threatened when things are not “normal”. And with discomfort comes fear. </p>
<p>But as academics look at what is happening in South Africa’s universities, how can they mediate this fear? What can be learned from these students, if anything?</p>
<h2>Not just content but form</h2>
<p>Students’ conversations emerging from the student protests are provocative – not just in content but in form. They have called attention to universities’ hierarchical and often patriarchal organisational practices.</p>
<p>When students occupy a <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201503251088.html">university</a> or <a href="http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201510202041-0025051">government space</a> like Parliament, they signal their gross discontent with an institution’s seat of power.</p>
<p>The blockade at many universities, for example, was a physical <em>and</em> a symbolic gesture. It highlighted students’ blocked access to the conceptual and cultural “goods” of the university.</p>
<p>The national shutdown was symbolic of the frustration felt by many students who are forced to “shut up” in dominant university spaces that continue to exclude and alienate them.</p>
<p>So it’s not just about what they are saying but how they are enacting discourses of disruption that extends the current debates beyond fee hikes and other logistical and operational aspects. But how do academics engage with this when the very form that’s being looked at causes us to be so unsettled and discomforted?</p>
<h2>Counter-narratives</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.academia.edu/7837062/Rethinking_Transformation_and_Its_Knowledge_s_The_Case_of_South_African_Higher_Education">Transformation</a> is a contested term but, in its main use, refers to changing stereotypical views of others based on their gender, race or disability. Today it has to be thought in terms of access and success, social inclusion and cohesion in institutional spaces.</p>
<p>By embracing decolonisation, students offer powerful counter-narratives to this established discourse of transformation. They are well versed in theorists and writers like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-fanon-continues-to-resonate-more-than-half-a-century-after-algerias-independence-43508">Frantz Fanon</a> and <a href="http://sbf.org.za/steve-biko.php">Steve Biko</a>. They are eloquent and articulate about their position. They criticise transformation for its number-crunching focus through which universities make superficial and shallow claims of having transformed based on quotas, demographics and tick-box audits. </p>
<p>“Transformation”, they say, has become a proxy for deeper issues that remain unchanged. These surfaced, for instance, in the Open Stellenbosch movement’s calls for a change to their institutions’ <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-27-not-open-says-open-stellenbosch">language policies</a>.</p>
<p>“Decolonisation” on the other hand offers an important counter-narrative to the neoliberal and corporate narrative in the university sector. Decolonising universities involves stripping bare and dismantling institutionalised power. It is an act of breaking free from this power and consciously opening one’s mind to new possibilities.</p>
<p>The strategic and revolutionary ways in which students have organised themselves make the student movement a performative one: it does what it says and says what it does. The movement is “leaderless but not purposeless”, as one #Rhodesmustfall student <a href="http://www.ijr.org.za/news-and-events.php?nid=269&type=news">explained</a> in a dialogue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are no recognisable leaders in our movement; some people come forward and others retreat; new people emerge and thus the continuous fluidity of the movement sustains itself. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Individual martyrdom, it seems, is not the goal. Social and collective momentum keeps the movement energised. </p>
<p>The students who have stepped out of the shadows during the protests also provide a counter to universities’ <a href="http://graduateschool.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Interrupting-Heteronormativity-text.pdf">heteronormative narratives</a>. Lesbian, gay, transgender, queer and female students and spokespersons were very visible. This disrupted normalisations of identities, heterogeneity, whiteness and privilege. It foregrounded the idea that all struggles are intimately linked.</p>
<h2>Where to for ‘normal’ business?</h2>
<p>What does this signal to academics, researchers and higher education teachers? Surely it cannot be “business as usual” going forward. How do learned experts in academia reflect on the national student protests in ways that challenge them to change the status quo in classrooms? </p>
<p>Or are academics and universities happy to reproduce cycles of inequity that have led to the eruptions and disruptions that dominated 2015?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kasturi Behari-Leak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The students’ movement has stretched South Africans in personal, professional, powerful and provocative ways. Have academics been stretched enough to reflect deeply on the status quo at universities?Kasturi Behari-Leak, Academic Staff Development Lecturer - teaching and learning specialist, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/504332015-11-09T17:25:11Z2015-11-09T17:25:11ZExplainer: new-look regulation on cards for higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101285/original/image-20151109-29297-1o8nefu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How will regulation be tied to funding in future?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lecture via Matej Kastelic/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Universities in the UK face a shakeup in the way they are regulated if proposals set out by the government in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474227/BIS-15-623-fulfilling-our-potential-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice.pdf">new green paper</a> go ahead as planned.</p>
<p>Alongside plans for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-teaching-excellence-framework-will-work-50323">Teaching Excellence Framework</a>, to reward those universities home to the best teaching, the government aims to remove the long-established ties between regulatory authority and how much each university receives from the state. Instead, higher education is moving to a position found in many other sectors – where regulatory agencies operate under clear legal purposes, irrespective of how much money they hand out. </p>
<p>Personally, I welcome the proposal to merge the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) into a new Office for Students (OfS), and also to require institutions to make provision for consumer protection for students in the event of closures. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/hec/research/report-regulating-higher-education">Higher Education Commission</a>, whose inquiry and subsequent <a href="http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/hec/sites/site_hec/files/report/333/fieldreportdownload/hecommission-regulatinghighereducation.pdf">report</a> I co-chaired with Lord Norton in 2013, strongly argues for such measures. The move towards a more level regulatory playing field for providers, so that alternative providers are treated in ways similar to the well-established institutions who get their funding from HEFCE, is also strongly supported by the Commission. </p>
<h2>New ways to award degrees</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101284/original/image-20151109-29326-1szjnfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alternative providers could get an alternative way of handing out degrees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Frannyanne/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The green paper actually goes further than the Commission did here. It rather imaginatively explores ways in which alternative university providers may be able to achieve degree-awarding powers and university title more readily and independently than now.</p>
<p>The paper’s proposal to consider the creation of an awarding and validating body that hands out degrees – without having to pass through a conventional university – is redolent of the approach of the old <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/cicp/main/validation/awards-and-aftercare/cnaa-pro-forma-verification/about-cnaa">Council for National Academic Awards</a> (CNAA). This worked well for the polytechnics in the 1970s and 1980s in guiding them to governing autonomy, degree-awarding status, and eventual university title. This suggestion should do much to speed up the competitive strength of the alternative providers as desired by the government.</p>
<p>Whether such a body is best situated within the new Office for Students, as proposed by the green paper, is more debatable. Perhaps it would be better if such an agency had clearly-defined autonomy and organisational “clean hands”, away from the other pressing concerns of the OfS. </p>
<h2>Not radical enough?</h2>
<p>In many ways, the document is rather conservative and could have taken the opportunity to highlight more radical options. For example, perhaps the Student Loans Company could also be folded into the OfS so that the money is commonly located. </p>
<p>There is also no real hint of the government’s view on whether the <a href="http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en">Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)</a> – which currently monitors quality in universities – should be abolished or retained. The green paper argues that, as a sector-owned body, it has no real authority or responsibility for QAA (leaving this matter to HEFCE and, in future, the new regulator). But this is rather ducking the issue. It is an important policy matter that we need to hear more about publicly from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).</p>
<p>The green paper also, commendably, aims to free up institutions that became universities after 1992 – known as post-1992 universities – to dissolve themselves and to transfer their assets. No doubt the aim is to aid mergers and possible amalgamations, including with new alternative higher education providers. </p>
<p>BIS suggests that the current “public interest” provisions in governance arrangements will still be required. Rather bizarrely, however, it suggests that if a university was not meeting this public interest, the sanction would be an impact on “continuing grant funding” for an institution. Yet, with the thrust of the green paper moving the sector away from regulatory authority that is linked to funding allocations, this is jarring.</p>
<p>The green paper also suggests that responsibility for the allocation of teaching grants, currently held by HEFCE, could move more directly to BIS rather than to the new OfS. This would enable government priorities to be reflected in any funding decisions.</p>
<h2>Ghosts in the green paper</h2>
<p>It is worth noting that the ghosts at this feast of a green paper (it is stultifying in its length), are the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spending-review-launched-by-chancellor">Comprehensive Spending Review</a> and Autumn Statements to be made by chancellor George Osborne on November 25. </p>
<p>Questions remain on whether there are any assumptions being made in BIS and the Treasury about the savings that may accrue from the creation of the new OfS. There is also a possible danger that planned reductions in expenditure could restrict the regulatory functions and powers of the new regulator. </p>
<p>The proposals suggest institutions will pay for their regulation through a subscription model. BIS estimates that this will save £25m, perhaps a rather modest if unwelcome contribution by the higher education sector to reducing the national public expenditure deficit. </p>
<p>Although we find that regulators in other sectors, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-versus-public-interest-in-battle-over-press-regulation-50114">the press</a>, are often funded through a subscription or levy on those being regulated, this is often accompanied by at least a modicum of co-regulation between the agency and the sector itself. </p>
<p>In this instance, the government envisages the OfS as operating much as HEFCE has done, as a statutory body with the “intermediary” role very much balanced towards the interests of government. If institutions – as subscribers – start to pay for the privilege of being regulated, will the OfS regard institutions as its “customers”? After all, this is the overall tenor of the higher education reforms. </p>
<p>In which case, how much is the regulatory function likely to be compromised by customers being “at the heart of the system” and bridling at any regulatory reining-in of their activities?</p>
<p>You take consumerism far enough and you can begin to regret what you wished for.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger King is affiliated with the Higher Education Commission and was co-chair of its inquiry 'Regulating the new landscape of higher education. He is also chair of the board of governors at UK College of Business and Computing (UKCBC), an alternative provider. </span></em></p>A new government green paper has proposed a raft of reforms for regulating higher education.Roger King, Visiting Professor, School of Management, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.